


First Christmas Together

by TvFan16



Series: Maggie & Jubal balance work and dating [8]
Category: FBI (TV 2018)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Friendship/Love, Romance, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 41,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28134360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TvFan16/pseuds/TvFan16
Summary: This picks up right where ‘Jubal’s Past Comes Back’ left offIt’s a look at Jubal and Maggie’s first Christmas together
Relationships: Maggie Bell & Jubal Valentine, Maggie Bell/Jubal Valentine
Series: Maggie & Jubal balance work and dating [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1929145
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying the Maggie & Jubal series, it has honestly been a lot of fun to write

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie posts the Christmas cards and Jubal asks something that has been on his mind for a while

Jubal and Maggie had taken their time in bed this morning really enjoying getting uninterrupted time together. It was unusual for them lately to actually have a day off or not have to be rushing somewhere, so they were not going to waste this opportunity. When they finally did manage to get out of bed they made it to the shower together which again took a lot longer than either planned but neither were complaining, in fact, both would have agreed that it had been a perfect morning full of passion and love.   
  
They had kept their hands off each other long enough to get dressed with both putting on warmer clothes as it was definitely winter in New York, there was no denying that when they stepped out into the cold. Jubal had slid Maggie’s hand into his sliding their entangled hands into his jacket pocket as they made their way towards the shops 

“We can post the cards to my family first that way I don’t have to carry them around with me the rest of the day” Maggie smiled as she walked as close to Jubal as possible both for the heat and just because it was what they both wanted 

“Sounds like a plan baby... Do they know that you are sending them?” Jubal glanced at Maggie before straight ahead to watch where he was walking as the streets were busy 

“Mel will know who created the card the minute that she sees Abby’s name on the back of it, my mum will ring me when the card arrives, and then I’ll tell her everything, I was hoping that I would get to tell her and my dad face to face, but they haven’t had a chance to get to New York and I certainly haven’t had the time to go back home. My brother will ring Mel to find out and then will go all protective big brother” she laughed softly 

“Your parent’s know about us though right?”

“They do, they know that I am dating someone, that I am very happy and that Mel spoke to you on FaceTime. I just haven’t gone into detail with them” 

Jubal nodded “I get that like you said you wanted to do that in person. You think they are going to be okay with the fact that you are dating someone who is divorced with two kids?” He completely understood why Maggie hadn’t gone into detail over the phone with her parents yet, he was just slightly nervous about them finding out everything and what their reaction would be 

Maggie squeezed Jubal’s hand gently “They aren’t going to be angry honey I promise. My dad will ask if you are good to me and look out for me and my mum will want to know if you make me happy. They won’t judge you or your past I promise.” 

“You are their daughter so trust me I get it, I can’t even think about Abby getting to an age where she brings home someone to meet us” Jubal shook his head as if trying to shake away the image “But I will do what I can to show your parents that you are safe with me and that I will do everything that I possibly can for you” 

Maggie chuckled when she saw Jubal shaking his head, she felt sorry for Abby as bringing someone to meet her father was not going to be easy at all, and she was trying not to focus on the fact that Jubal had said bringing someone home to meet ‘us’ 

“Jubal, honey all you have to do is be yourself and my parents will see exactly why their daughter fell in love with you. Mel already approves of you and winning over my sister can be a hard thing to do” 

“Well we both passed the sister test” He laughed softly leaning over kissing Maggie’s temple as they walked “I wasn’t sure anyone could win over my sister, but you just had to be yourself, and she was mad about you and the rest of my family are going to be the same as Jen”

“Jen was very easy to talk to, and I really did enjoy that night we had dinner together and meeting her for coffee the few times that we have managed to have been really nice. She has been so sweet to me, and I’ve really enjoyed her company because I do at times wish that Mel lived here in New York” 

“Well, Jen has loved those coffee hangouts just as much as you because after every single one of them she texts warning me not to screw things up with you. You know she even warned me the other night on the phone if I messed this up she would be on your side”

Maggie laughed hearing Jubal and seeing the face that he pulled “Hey what can I say me and your sister have definitely built a friendship, but she would still take your side. But we hopefully never have to find out because neither of us is planning on screwing this up”

Jubal stopped walking as he leaned in and kissed Maggie kissing her softly but with love keeping it short as they were out in public “I am not about to let anything screw up one of the best things to happen me. So yeah you are stuck with me for a very long time” 

“I guess it’s a really good thing that I don’t want you to go anywhere without me” Maggie smiled as she kissed Jubal with just as much love before pulling on his arm gently so that they could start walking again. 

They went to post the Christmas cards and were making their way towards the store to confirm they had the right bicycles for Abby and Tyler and to give the store Maggie’s address so that they could be built and delivered to them later that day. Maggie spotted a lot of toy stores on their way, and she had thoughts racing around her head that she finally had to share with Jubal

“Do you buy gifts for the kids or do they get it all from Santa?” 

“The last couple of years I have got the kids something that has been from me that’s separate from what they get from Santa, it’s usually something small. Sam and Alan do the same, they get something from them and keep it small so that the main presents are what Santa brings”

Maggie was quiet for a minute as she thought about what she was going to say “And how do you think it would go down if I was to get something small for them?” 

Jubal looked at Maggie when he heard her question “You know that you don’t have to get them anything baby, they won’t be expecting anything from you” 

“I know I don’t have to, but I’d like to but only if it was okay with you and Sam, I really don’t want to cause issues and especially not at Christmastime” She was trying to hide the nerves from her voice as she spoke and Jubal going quiet was making her think that he was going to say it was a bad idea. 

Jubal had been quiet as he was trying to build up the courage to say what was on his mind, why the hell did he feel so nervous about this? He stopped walking, stepping to the side near a coffee cart knowing they could both definitely do with some coffee but first he had to get this off his chest 

“I haven’t actually got the kids their gifts yet I was going to go this week when you were on one of your FaceTime check-ins with Mel but…” Jubal took a slow breath “How about we go and give the store your address for the bicycles, and then we can go together and pick out something for the kids that will be from the both of us?” 

Maggie could tell that Jubal was nervous and a little unsure of what he was about to say, so she was paying attention to his every word and not rushing him in any way as she wanted him to be comfortable with her to say anything. She was not expecting him to say that, it had without a doubt caught her off guard and made her feel a little emotional as her breath caught a little, this wasn’t just a small thing, this was another step in their relationship. 

“If you don’t want to, if it’s too much too soon, we don’t have to” Jubal had taken her silence and her breath catching as a no

Maggie lifted her hand to his cheek gently and caressed it with her thumb as she smiled looking into her favourite hazel eyes that were searching her face for an answer “Jubal, honey my silence wasn’t me saying no, it was you caught me completely off guard... You know that’s not what I was implying when I asked about me getting something for the kids?” 

“I know that baby, the thought has been on my mind for a while now, I just never could work up the courage to actually say it because I didn’t want to rush you or scare you with being too much too soon. So if you aren’t ready, trust me I completely understand”

This man really had no idea how much Maggie was in love with him, and she really was falling more in love with him the more he opened up and let her in “If you are sure this is something that you really want and that it won’t cause any arguments between you and Sam then I would love for us to go and pick out gifts for the kids from us” Maggie couldn’t help the large smile as she said ‘from us’ 

Jubal was sure that people would think he was crazy with the large smile that he had on his face right now “Mags, I love that you don’t want to cause arguments between me and Sam, but she has to accept that you are a huge part of my life, the kids adore you and I know they will love the gifts knowing that they are from both of us. So trust me this is something that I really want” 

“In that case then let's grab some coffee, go give the address for the bicycles to be delivered this afternoon, and we can go and pick out something for the kids” Maggie leaned up kissing Jubal slowly but with so much love really not caring right now that they were in pencil, this was another step in their relationship. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie and Jubal pick out presents for his kids

Once they had gotten their coffee they went to the store, and Jubal confirmed that they had the right bicycles and Maggie gave her address for them to be delivered to later that afternoon. They had picked a time that they knew would definitely be home by, when they were happy with everything, they left heading to a toy store. Maggie couldn’t remember the last time that she had actually been inside a toy store, and it may have sounded silly but this felt like a big thing right now as she was there to help pick out a present for her boyfriend's kids. She couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face when she thought of that and that smile only grew when she felt his hand slide into hers. Maggie had realised that Jubal had found a reason to always be touching her today, and she loved it.

“Do you know what you want to get for the kids or were you just hoping that it would come to you when walking around the store?”

“I was thinking of getting Tyler a small Lego set, you can add on to the one that he has at home. Abby, I'm not so sure, I have gotten Jen to help me when buying for Abby, not that I don’t know my daughter it’s just…”

“That it’s easier to have a female with you when buying girly gifts, it makes perfect sense honey. Why don’t we take a walk around and I'm sure that something will jump out at us for Abby... The Lego for Tyler is all on you though” She chuckled softly.

Jubal laughed softly hearing Maggie “I'm more than happy for the Lego to be on me, you know that’s something that Tyler and I share, I'm the only one allowed to help him other than Jen’s son Ben”

Maggie was loving that she was learning more about Jubal as a dad as they walked around the toy store, “That’s really sweet, and I'm sure that Tyler loves that building Lego is something between him and his dad but how does Ben build it with him? I'm pretty sure that listening to Jen that she and Ben don’t be at Sam’s place”.

Jubal was caressing Maggie’s hand with his thumb as they walked shaking his head laughing “They definitely do not be at Sam’s place unless you want to be getting called out on a murder case” he joked lightly “I have Lego at my apartment for Tyler, Ben will come over with his mum when I have Tyler, actually Ben has come and stayed with me and the kids without his mum”

“Not sure that’s a case we would be allowed to work” She nudged Jubal’s shoulder gently “You seem to have a really good relationship with Ben, Jen showed me some pictures of him, he looks a lot like her... You know Jen told me about you being there for Ben when his dad walked away”.

“I'm guessing that my sister didn’t actually put it as nicely as that?” Jubal raised his eyebrow.

“No, but there are kids around so definitely not appropriate to repeat what she said” she laughed

“Fair point... But yeah his dad was apparently not ready to be a dad, so disappeared before Ben was even one, I tried to help her out as much as I could but I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. Then my drinking meant I wasn’t exactly the best help to Jen or Ben, but when I got sober I started having a lot more time with Ben, he would come to stay with me, Sam and Tyler a lot of weekends. He and Tyler are really like brothers, and still have that closeness which is really nice as Jen didn’t have any more kids.”

“Well from what Jen told me Ben thinks a lot of his Uncle Jubal and I mean he’s not going to get any arguments from me about that” she smirked playfully “I’ll definitely have to meet him soon, I know Jen said last week that he has been really busy with school and sports”

“Yeah he loves his sport and works really hard at school, but he should have more time with the holidays coming up”

Maggie was about to reply to Jubal when something caught her eye, and she gently pulled on Jubal’s hand, “Honey look at this” she pointed at a set called a starter kit “This would be perfect for Tyler, he wraps it around his waist, and the football can only go so far... It would be perfect to help him with his soccer. He said yesterday that it’s hard at home not having someone to play with, so this would be perfect for him, and the cones mean he can practice dribbling the ball around them”.

Jubal couldn’t help the large smile that he had on his face seeing Maggie so excited about a gift for his son but it also filled his heart with so much love as it showed she had really paid so much attention to Tyler and what he was talking to her about at the diner yesterday. He really wanted to spend the rest of his life showing this woman just how much he loved her and how that love genuinely grew every single day.

“You know my kid is one lucky boy having you look out for him and helping him... If this helps with what he was talking about yesterday then I think we have just found the second part of Tyler’s present, and he will know for sure that you picked this out for him”.

“He’s a great kid, and he really enjoys soccer, he’s just being hard on himself about his abilities and looking out for him is pretty easy to do when I happen to be in love with his dad” Maggie smiled as she leaned in stealing a quick kiss from Jubal before pulling back so that he could lift down the small box. “Now we get to go to your favourite section” she laughed as she gently pulled Jubal to where the girls toys were.

“Why do I think you are enjoying this part a little too much?” He raised his eyebrow playfully looking at Maggie.

“What? Come on its not every day that I get to see Jubal Valentine walking along the doll section in a toy store” she smirked playfully watching him “But knowing that you are doing if for your daughter makes me love you even more if that were at all possible”.

Jubal was a little caught off guard with Maggie’s openness about her love for him and it still did surprise him at times that she clearly did love him more than he realised “I really do owe my kids for getting me some extra brownie points with you” he chuckled softly

They walked along the aisles looking at different things but nothing was jumping out at them as something that Abby really wanted or that she would really want until Maggie spotted a jigsaw, she lifted it out to look at it waiting for Jubal to join her as he had been looking at something else. When Jubal reached Maggie she held up the box to show him.

“I think Abby would love this, I mean it has unicorns, so that, already makes it a winner with her” She laughed softly, “But you said that lately she has been fascinated with jigsaws, and this one lights up in the dark... What do you think?”

“I think I'm falling in love with how much attention you’ve clearly been paying to my kids” Maggie slapped his arm playfully to get him to pay attention to the jigsaw “It’s perfect baby honestly she will love it like you said, its unicorns and the only thing she wants to do these days are jigsaws or draw. I was actually looking at an art stencil and colouring set that I want you to take a look at for her”.

“She really does love drawing so, it sounds like its something she would absolutely love. Let’s go and take a look, I’ll carry the jigsaw as there isn’t many left”.

Maggie carried the Jigsaw and followed Jubal as he showed her the art stencil and colouring set that he had been looking at, and they both agreed that Abby would love it as it had everything she would need for drawing. Maggie carried the two presents for Abby so that Jubal could quickly go and lift the small Lego set for Tyler, they paid for the gifts grabbing some wrapping paper as Maggie said she would wrap them for him. 

Maggie couldn’t wait until they got home, she was nervous about talking to Jubal about what was on her mind as it would change everything between them. She had been thinking about it for a few days, but she had made the decision this morning that she wasn’t putting it off any longer, so tonight she was going to sit Jubal down and ask him what had been on her mind a lot lately. It would go okay, right? She was just really overthinking things right now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie has something important to ask Jubal

Jubal had suggested that they grab something to eat before heading home, and Maggie couldn’t think of a reason to say no other than her nerves might stop her from eating. Thankfully though Jubal had a calming effect on Maggie, and she was able to enjoy eating, and the nerves had calmed down for now. When they had finished eating they headed home setting the presents for the kids into the spare room downstairs.

Both had gone upstairs to get changed into more comfortable clothes and were about to sit down for the evening, when there was a knock at the door, thankfully it was just the bicycles arriving as neither of them wanted to face company or an unwanted visitor that meant Jubal would have to hide. The delivery guys brought the bicycles right up to Maggie’s door, so she and Jubal just had to move them into the spare room along with the other presents.

“Thank you so much for letting me get the bicycles delivered here. I feel so much better now that we have them because they are the kids main Santa present and I really don’t want to leave it any closer to Christmas Eve to collect them” Jubal looked at Maggie as they made their way into the living room sitting down on the couch.

“You don’t have to thank me honey, it made sense for them to be delivered here, and I know that you were panicking about when you were going to get a chance to collect them and now you can tell Sam that you have them, and they are built.”

“I’ll text her later to let her know that we have them, and they are safe until Christmas Eve”, Jubal took Maggie’s legs laying them across his thighs as she was laying with her back against the end of the couch, “Is everything okay baby? You have been kinda quiet since we left the toy store. Was it too much?”

Maggie could see the concern on Jubal’s face, she should have known that he would have noticed that she had been a lot quieter than she had the rest of the day. She moved one of her hands to lay on the top of his that were resting on her legs.

“No it wasn’t too much I promise, I really did enjoy getting to help you with the kid's presents. But you are right there is something and it’s been on my mind for a few days, I'm just nervous about saying it because it has the potential to change everything between us” Maggie was biting her lower lip a little, showing that she really was nervous.

Hearing Maggie had Jubal sitting up straight, and now even more worried than he was before, what could she possibly have to tell him that could change their relationship that had her this nervous. He turned his hand around under hers so that he could intertwine their fingers, squeezing her hand gently.

“Baby whatever you have to tell me you know that you can say it, I would much rather you tell me so that we can work through it together than have you go quiet on me.”

Maggie stood up and walked into the kitchen opening a drawer she lifted out a small box and carried it back over to the couch sitting back down beside Jubal who was so confused when she stood up, and he was really worried as he honestly didn’t think he had ever seen Maggie this nervous before. Maggie sat playing with the box for a few seconds before handing it to Jubal.

“You know that gifts are meant to be given at Christmas right?” He joked lightly trying to dissolve some tension in the air as he took the box from Maggie.

“I do” She chuckled a little nervously nudging his shoulder, “But I'm not sure I could have waited until Christmas because it was going to play on my mind too much… Open it”.

Jubal felt nervous as he took the lid off the small box, his heart was beating faster as he had no idea what he was going to find inside the box. He removed the lid and seen the silver key sitting in the box, it had a tag on it but it had got turned over, so he couldn’t see what it said, he looked from the box to Maggie.

“You’re giving me a key to your apartment?” He wasn’t sure how those words had actually come out of his mouth as all he could hear was his heartbeat. He knew that this was a huge step for Maggie, but the biggest surprise had yet to come.

“Yes and No” Maggie was playing with her fingers nervously as she kept biting her lower lip, and she couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped at Jubal’s confusion “The tag somehow turned over, lift it out and read it”

Jubal sat the lid of the box on the couch beside him and lifted out the key and turned the tag so that he could read it, he has no idea why, but he found himself reading the words out loud “Will you move in with me?”

Maggie’s eyes hadn’t left Jubal, she was holding her breath as she really had no idea what his reaction was going to be, it may have only been seconds passing by but to Maggie it felt like minutes, close to even hours.

Jubal turned his head and looked at Maggie, the shock was clear on his face “You want me to move in?”

Maggie knew that now she had to just be open and honest with Jubal as he was genuinely surprised, “Yes. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, you spend most nights here, you’ve only been going to your apartment to pick up more clothes and on a few nights that you didn’t want to wake me coming in late. I don’t like spending the night without you and I’ve gotten so used to you being here that it honestly feels lonely when you aren’t here. When you said about Ian and Kristen thinking you lived with your girlfriend I realised that we really do sound and act like we live together, but just haven’t made it official, so why wait until Christmas when it’s something that I want to happen now… but only if it’s something that you want, I know you’ve had that apartment for a long time, and that you have to think about the kids, but I’ve two spare rooms here that they can use and I want this to hopefully become your home as well”.

Jubal was holding the key in his hands reading the words, ‘Will you move in with me’ over again, and then he looked at Maggie listening to her as she spoke, taking in every word. By the time that Maggie finished talking Jubal had tears in his eyes, and he didn’t even want to hide them, this incredible woman that he was madly in love with wanted him to come live with her, he was waiting for his alarm clock to go off and this to have been a dream.

“Maggie I…” Jubal’s voice broke a little, raw with emotion “I honestly didn’t see this coming, I thought you were a long way off from wanting to take that step. You know that I would spend every second with you outside of work, I love being here with you and you’re right I've hardly been at my apartment the last few months. My lease is actually due for renewal, but I didn’t think you were ready to have that conversation. You know that I want to come home to you every day no matter what and the kids will love it here because it feels like a home”.

“Is that a yes?” Maggie was still holding her breath as it sounded like he was saying yes, but he hadn't actually said the words. This was the first time she was going to live with someone since her husband died.

“Yes... A million times yes” Jubal laughed setting the box to the side, and he pulled Maggie into his lap so that she was straddling him, he cupped her face with his hands “I would absolutely love to live with you baby” he leaned up kissing Maggie with so much love.

Maggie let out the breath she had been holding when she heard his yes, and she laughed in surprise when he pulled her onto his lap. She lay one of her hands on his neck while the other cupped his cheek as she kissed him back with so much love. The kiss was only broke when Jubal felt something wet on his cheek, and he pulled his head back to see that it was a tear running down Maggie’s cheek, he wiped it away gently with his thumb.

“What's wrong baby? You regretting it already?” He joked playfully.

Maggie shook her head laughing as she leaned in resting her forehead against his keeping her eyes closed “Its happy tears... After Jason died I didn’t think that I would ever find anyone that would make me even consider a relationship and then you started to open up and let me in and now I can’t imagine a life without you in it”.

Jubal smiled hearing Maggie, pulling her closer to him as he ran his hands along her back slowly placing small kisses to her lips “I'm not going anywhere baby, I never thought that you would ever be interested in giving me a chance, and now you want me to live with you. I'm not going to say things will always be easy because that would be lying but I can promise you that I will never stop fighting for you, fighting for us”.

Maggie pulled her head back a little so that she could look into Jubal’s eyes which she did with a large smile on her face  “I love you so much Jubal”

“I love you too Mags so dam much and when I leave a mess of clothes laying somewhere and you shout at me I’ll remind you that it was you that asked me to move in” He smirked playfully laughing when Maggie slapped his chest lightly. Coming home to her every night was definitely something that he was looking forward to.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie and Jubal their morning coffee together and make plans for him moving in

Maggie and Jubal had enjoyed what he called ‘Celebrating’ their next big step in what was now ‘their’ bed, and just when they thought they got enough of each other, they both wanted more, this was what it was like to be so in love with someone that every step in the relationship meant something. They finally had to drag themselves from their bed the following morning and join the real world again, they were sitting at the breakfast bar drinking coffee when Jubal lifted his head from his phone looking at Maggie.  
  
“I text my landlord and told him that I wanted to talk to him about the lease on the apartment, so he just told me to ring him, and we can set up a time for him to meet me at my place….my old place” He couldn’t hide the smile on his face  
  
“You think he has any idea that you are going to be telling him that you are moving out?” Maggie was sipping her coffee looking at Jubal.  
  
“He lives in the building, and I asked him to keep an eye on the apartment when I wasn’t there, so he will know how little I’ve been there lately, so I don’t think it’s going to be a big surprise to him”  
  
“I guess then you should go and see him as soon as you can if work isn't busy maybe Isobel will let you go in late to go and speak to him?”  
  
“Wanting me to move in with you that quickly huh?” He smirked playfully.  
  
“You are going to be here anyway” She chuckled softly “And you were right last night, it is better to have everything moved before Christmas so that we can relax and enjoy Christmas time”  
  
“I'm sorry could you say that part again about me being right? I'm just not used to hearing those words from you”.  
  
“Nope, saying them once was hard enough” Maggie smirked joking as she stole a quick kiss from him standing up and walking to the sink to wash her cup  
  
“Next time give me a warning before saying them, so I can record it and have it on my phone” Jubal couldn't help but tease playfully, he did love their moments like this where both were so carefree  
  
“Who said there was going to be a next time?”  
  
She raised her eyebrow playfully and went to walk past him to go, and put her boots on but Jubal stopped her grabbing her by the arm gently and playfully as he pulled her between his legs wrapping his arms around her resting them on her stomach as he kissed her neck nipping at the skin gently.  
  
“Jubal Valentine if you leave a mark where everyone can see I will kill you!”  
  
“You not want everyone to know that you are happily taken?” He turned Maggie in his arms to face him resting his hands on her hips raising an eyebrow playfully.  
  
“We both know if Kristen and OA spotted a mark on my neck that there is just no way that you wouldn’t tell them that you were the one who left that mark”  
  
Jubal pretended that he was thinking about it for a minute, “Yeah okay, that's true… But I will admit that it would be a lot of fun to watch them find out that you have a boyfriend”.  
  
Maggie wrapped her arms around Jubal’s neck moving as close to him as possible as she ran her thumb along his hairline  
  
“You think if I told them that they would think of you since you have a secret girlfriend?”  
  
“I honestly don't think so, I think they might joke about it but wouldn’t think we were together”  
  
“Does it bother you that they don't know that I have a boyfriend?” Maggie knew they hadn't really talked about this since the team find out Jubal had a girlfriend watching the CCTV footage.  
  
“No baby, I promise… My kids, and our families know and that's the most important right now, I know we both love our team, but we are also two people that like to keep our private lives as close to our chests as possible... I hear you shutting them down straight away when they try talking to you about dating, and I know you love me, so trust me I am okay with still waiting to tell the team”.  
  
“It still surprises me how open OA and Kristen are about their private lives, and they are rubbing off on Stuart as he’s becoming more open. They won't ever change Ian though” she laughed softly “I do love you, a lot, I mean I did ask you to move in with me last night, I don't make a habit of asking just anyone to move in with me” she smirked playfully.  
  
“I hope not…. I'm hoping that I will be the last person that you live with” Jubal had lost the joking tone from his voice as he was completely serious, this was it for him, Maggie was his future for as long as she would have him.  
  
Maggie’s breath caught a little when she saw how serious Jubal was and that he meant them being together forever, she loved how much he could still surprise her with how sweet he was.  
  
“Don't ever stop letting me see this side of you babe because I will honestly never get tired of how sweet you are to me”  
  
Maggie leaned in kissing him slowly but with so much love as he ran his hands along her sides slowly keeping her close to him  
  
“I don't plan on ever stopping when it comes to you... And I've upgraded to Babe from honey now that we are living together huh?” he smirked against her lips placing small kisses to her lips as he couldn't stop smiling now.  
  
“I'm going to guess that you are more than okay with me calling you babe, I don't know it's silly it just seemed like it felt more serious than honey”  
  
Jubal shook his head still smiling “Coming from you, I love it, but I did mean it when I told you a while ago that I'm pretty sure, I would be okay with you calling me anything you wanted”  
  
“Yeah, so, you would answer to ‘Snuggle Muffin’ or ‘Teddy bear’?” Maggie couldn't resist teasing him and chuckled when she heard him groan playfully.  
  
“At home yes I would answer to those, in public I'm not so sure you would get an answer” He laughed.  
  
“You afraid that it would ruin your image answering to those names?” Maggie laughed joking playfully with him “I'm going to go get my boots you check, will you fill-up the travel cups for us babe?”  
  
“Wouldn’t ruin my image when it is a beautiful woman calling me those things” He smiled kissing her softly “Of course baby, I'm going to ring Isobel see if I can take the morning to meet my landlord”  
  
It didn’t take Maggie long to get her boots on upstairs, she grabbed their guns, ID’s and badges, and came back downstairs when she made sure that she had everything that they needed. Jubal was leaning against the back of the couch waiting for her holding her travel cup in the one hand his phone in the other, he smiled lifting his head seeing her.  
  
“Isobel said that I can take some time this morning, but I can drop you to work before heading to the apartment”  
  
Maggie took the travel cup from Jubal handing him his gun and ID “You sure you don’t mind dropping me off, babe?”  
  
“Of course not I’ve to head that way for the apartment anyway, it’s only a small diversion to drop you off and I can drop you off at the main door rather than the parking garage”  
  
“Well sounds like you have it all thought through so let’s head, some of us have to be on time to work” Maggie smirked playfully as headed out the door walking to Jubal’s car as he followed her shaking his head laughing


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jubal speaks to his landlord and they start to pack up his apartment leading to Jubal asking Maggie an important question

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this chapter finished earlier than thought so decided to post it. I hope that everyone reading is enjoying the story. 
> 
> Thank you to those taking the time to read and leave kudos on my work it honestly means a lot

Jubal had dropped Maggie off at work, it felt a little strange for both of them for him not to be walking in with her, but they were both very excited about the reason that he was going to be late today. She gave him a quick kiss before climbing out of his SUV and heading into the building and up to their floor. When Maggie made her way to her desk, OA, Kristen and Stuart were already at their desks.  
  
“Did you three miss work that much yesterday?”  
  
OA lifted his head hearing Maggie “We aren’t in that long, I was up before my alarm today, so I thought I would come in early”  
  
Kristen looked at Maggie, “None of us realised that we were so early until we realised that we made it in before Jubal and that never happens”  
  
“Yeah Maggie what did you do to Jubal on Saturday night that he hasn't shown up for work, you need an alibi?” Stuart joked joining in the conversation.  
  
Maggie sat her stuff down on her desk, and she was hoping that her makeup was hiding the slight blush on her cheeks. She knew that Stuart was saying it as a joke since Jubal took her home Saturday night, but she couldn’t help but think about their day yesterday, and what their reaction would be if they knew the truth.  
  
“No alibi needed, Jubal just made sure I got into my apartment safely on Saturday night. I'm sure that he will happily answer any questions you have for him when he gets in”  
  
Isobel had been walking towards her office when she heard the team talking, “Jubal will be in late today, he had some things to take care of” she gave a brief smile in Maggie's direction before heading towards her office.  
  
“Okay, Kristen we have to decide what questions we want to ask him when he gets here and divide and conquer that way we might get more information” OA looked at Kristen while talking.  
  
Maggie shook her head laughing facing her computer screen, and she took out her phone and text Jubal, ‘Heads up, Kristen and OA are preparing your interrogation questions and Stuart wanted to know if I needed an alibi to explain your absence’  
  
Jubal had just arrived at his apartment when he heard his phone beep, and he smiled seeing Maggie’s name on his screen, and he read the message laughing as he replied, ‘Going behind your teams back to warn me? Now that is love, Agent Bell… I need to have a word with Stuart that he’s so willing to give you an alibi for murdering me… Kris and OA are going to be disappointed when I just refuse to answer’  
  
Maggie was listening to OA and Kristen bounce questions off each other as Stuart kept trying to tell them that Jubal was just going to ignore them, she lifted her phone seeing Jubal’s name, and she couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped as she replied, ‘Well I live with you, I don’t have to live with them so yeah I’m on your side. Don’t make me regret going behind their back Agent Valentine’  
  
The fact that Maggie chuckled looking at her phone had caught the teams attention, and she turned her head to see all three of them looking at her “What? Why are you three staring at me?”  
  
“Why are you chuckling and smiling at your phone?” OA asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
Before Maggie replied her phone alerted her to a reply from Jubal, and she opened it reading his message 'I'm going to need you to say that first part of the message repeatedly until it sinks in… And I will thank you properly later for going behind your team’s back for your boyfriend… I’ll see you soon, my soon to be ex-landlord just arrived’  
  
Maggie shook her head smiling as she read the message, and she locked her phone before setting it on her desk, and she looked at the others who were still staring at her “It was my sister checking in… I wasn’t aware that me chuckling and smiling were such a rare thing” she raised her eyebrow playfully.  
  
Kristen laughed “It’s not… OA just doesn’t want to feel like he is being left out of anything.”  
  
OA, Kristen and Stuart filled Maggie in on what happened at the bar after she left the other night which turned out to be a lot more drinking. She was thankful that she and Jubal had left when they had as all three said they all ended up drinking a lot more than they had planned and had hangovers yesterday because of it.  
  
Maggie needed to stretch her legs after sitting for a while, she checked if any of them wanted coffee, and she went to the break room, she was leaning her hands on the counter with her back to the door which was opened as she felt two hands run down her arms, and she jumped turning around to face whoever it was  
  
“Jesus Jubal, you trying to give me a heart attack?”  
  
Jubal laughed watching Maggie, “Well who else would be putting their hands on you at work?” He raised his eyebrow smirking as he stood close to her.  
  
“Oh did I not tell you that Ian, and I have gotten much closer after our night out on Saturday?” She teased him playfully.  
  
“And, yet I'm the one living with you and that got you to go behind your teams back to give me a heads up” Jubal stepped even closer to Maggie as his eyes glanced from her lips back up to her eyes.  
  
Maggie bit her lip watching him glance at her lips, she reached out her hand running, it along his shirt buttons “That means you told your landlord? And I wanted to let my man know what he was about to walk in to”  
  
“Can you say that again?”  
  
Jubal was talking much lower now as he was inches from Maggie, when did he stop caring about taking risks at work? It was like the minute he lay his eyes on Maggie he just forgot about everything except for her  
  
“My man”  
  
Maggie didn’t have to ask, she knew exactly that Jubal wanted her to repeat, she had seen his pupils dilate a little with desire when she had said the words. She hadn’t meant for this to happen at work, but it had just slipped out and his reaction to it, she was making her wish that they were at home. Before she could say or even think about anything else she felt Jubal’s lips against hers, she gripped his shirt a little as she kissed him back with love but kept the kiss short knowing they were at work.  
  
“We can pick this up right where we left off when we get home tonight” she whispered against his lips  
  
Jubal stole one more quick kiss before pulling back a little to put some distance between them trying to remind himself that they were at work. He really did struggle not to have his hands on Maggie when they were in the same room, which was a small problem when they work together.  
  
“To our home” He smiled honestly saying those words, “and to answer your question yes I told my landlord. He said he had a feeling it was coming, he actually gave me some boxes that he had, Isobel said there was nothing that she couldn’t cover for, so I managed to get some things packed up”  
  
“We can head to your apartment after work if you want and continue to pack up the rest of your stuff?”  
  
“You sure you don’t mind coming over to help? There isn’t a lot, the furniture will stay with the apartment, and I got the kids things packed up this morning as they are the things I really want with me”  
  
“I'm sure Jubal, honestly it will go quicker with the two of us. We can even stay there one night this week if you want to have a final night at the apartment, or you can have time to yourself there if you want?”  
  
“I don’t need a night there on my own or us to have a night there Mags, I love that you are offering, but I've never seen that apartment really as a home and my home is now with you, and that’s where I want to spend every night”  
  
Maggie smiled honestly hearing Jubal, “Then we will head to your old place after work and pack up everything, then we can move things around so that it becomes our home”  
  
The rest of the day at work had gone by quickly, Jubal was in a lot of meetings with Isobel and other’s from different branches, so it meant that Kristen and OA hadn’t been able to question Jubal since they saw him join them at work. Maggie and Jubal had waited to the others left, and then left work together heading to Jubal’s apartment, they packed up everything in his apartment which was mostly clothes as he had most things packed up this morning. They had taken a break to order some take out and were sitting on his couch eating as he looked at Maggie  
  
“Hey, you know that we haven’t talked about what our plans are for Christmas... Do you have plans with your family?”  
  
“You know the team was talking about their plans today and it made me realise that you and I hadn’t talked about it yet. I would usually try to go home for Christmas but you will obviously have plans with the kids, so I'd rather stay in the city this year so that we can be together Christmas night”  
  
Jubal sat down his take out container on the coffee table, and he leaned back against the couch looking at Maggie “This year Sam has the kids Christmas Eve, I get to be there for them wakening up Christmas morning, we have an early dinner together and then I would take them to my sisters, and they stay with me Christmas night.” Jubal was quiet for a minute, and he reached over caressing Maggie’s cheek, “Come with me…”  
  
“To your sisters?” Maggie sat down her empty food container and turned to face Jubal  
  
Jubal shook his head, “No to Sam’s, to see the kids get their Santa gifts, then after dinner, we can go home to ours and bring the kids there and if you are okay with it then Jen, Ben and Charlie can join us in the afternoon…”  
  
Maggie was genuinely surprised by Jubal’s question, she was waiting to stay in the city so that they would be able to see each other briefly as she knew and wanted his focus to be the kids, “Jubal are you sure about that? I mean I don’t want to change things for the kids and your family, and what would Sam even say?”  
  
Jubal turned to face Maggie moving closer to her taking her hand in his “Baby, you are my family too. I want to have you with me for Christmas, everything the kids do I know I’ll be taking pictures or videos, so that, I can show you. The kids will love having you there, Sam will behave when it’s Christmas, and she knows after Saturday never to say anything in front of the kids again. Jen would love to hang out with you on Christmas Day as the only other female apart from my 6-year-old, and you’ll get to meet Ben. You said you want to stay in the City so that we have time together and are giving up seeing your family for us so, I’m asking you to spend Christmas with me and the kids”  
  
Maggie was running her thumb along Jubal’s hand while listening to him talking, she could tell from his confidence and his eyes that this wasn't just a blurted out question. It was clear that he had been thinking about this for a while but had been holding back in case it was too much for Maggie, but since she had asked him to move in he felt that maybe it wouldn’t scare her as much.  
  
“If you are one hundred percent sure about this then my answer is a straightforward yes babe. I would love to spend Christmas with you and the kids. The kids will be your priority and always should be that’s why I wanted to stay in the City so to actually spend the day with you and them would be amazing. Jen and her family is always welcome at our home, it’s our home now baby, she’s your sister, and I love spending time with her, so she’s always welcome. Just promise me that you will talk it through with Sam and maybe we should have the kids stay at our place before Christmas so that they can see your new place?”  
  
“I'm a million percent sure baby, this is what I want” He leaned in kissing Maggie with so much love when he broke the kiss he pulled Maggie into his arms’ wrapping his arms around her kissing her head “You are amazing you know that? To think about the kids having a night with us before Christmas so that they feel comfortable, to want me to okay it with Sam. You are so patient, understanding, and loving, I keep saying it but I honestly do not know what I have done to deserve you Maggie Bell” he tightened his hold a little on her  
  
Maggie wrapped her arms around Jubal’s waist laying her head on his shoulder, but she titled her head back to look at him while she spoke “Falling in love with you mean falling in love with every part of you babe, and firstlay you are a dad, and you are letting me be a part of that, and see you as a dad, and it just makes me fall even more in love with you. Sam and the kids are always going to be a part of you and I wouldn’t change any of that because everything in your past has led you to be the man that you are now, the man that I want to live with, and the man that I love so much that at times it still scares me”  
  
Jubal had let Maggie just about finish speaking before his lips were against hers deepening the kiss holding her as close as humanly possible to him. When they broke the kiss he lay his forehead against hers, his hand cupping one of her cheeks as his thumb caressed just under her eye  
  
“I love you so much Maggie and I promise to try to always be the man that you deserve”  
  
“You just have to be you Jubal” Maggie smiled watching as Jubal closed his eyes feeling her hand at the nape of his neck, she knew this was a huge thing for him to have her be a part of the kids Christmas “We definitely need to buy a new Christmas Tree the one I have is not what the kids deserve”  
  
Jubal chuckled softly “We can go and get a new Christmas Tree, and I will talk to Sam when I am going to see the kids tomorrow about you joining for Christmas and the kids coming to spend a night with us before then so that they are used to the new place”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jubal has some time with the kids and tells them he is moving apartment.

Jubal had the day off work to go and spend it with the kids as they had been given a day off school, and he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get some extra time with them. He had brought the kids to the park that morning, and then back to Sam’s house where he had made the three of them lunch. The kids were sitting either side of their dad on the couch watching something on the TV as they finished up the lunch.  
  
“I need to talk to you kiddos about something”  
  
“Is everything okay dad?” Tyler looked at his dad the worry on the young boys face showing that he was a sensitive kid.  
  
“Everything is great buddy I promise” Jubal smiled kissing his sons head. Jubal moved to sit on the coffee table so that he could face both Abby and Tyler who moved closer to each other looking at their dad “I'm moving out of my apartment”.  
  
“You going to be further away from us daddy?” Abby frowned looking at her dad.  
  
Jubal leaned forward resting his hand on his daughter’s knee “No baby girl I’m not going to be any further away from you guys. Maggie, and I have decided that we want to live together, so I'm going to be moving into Maggie’s apartment”.  
  
“Does that mean we can’t stay over with you anymore?” Tyler asked worried about the answer.  
  
“Of course you can still stay with me buddy, nothing is going to change, I’m just going to be living in a different apartment. Maggie has a room for you both at her apartment, our apartment, and we are hoping that you guys will want to come to stay with us this weekend so that you can see the new place… How would you feel about that?”  
  
“We get to see Maggie when we come to stay with you?” Abby was smiling looking at her dad.  
  
“You do baby girl” he chuckled softly when his daughter cheered, but he looked at Tyler who was still being a little quiet, “What about you buddy, how are you feeling about it?”  
  
“We still get to build Lego at yours?” He asked quietly.  
  
“We do. Mags knows that building Lego is our thing so that won’t change. And we can still have time just the three of us. You both know that I love you so much and so does Maggie”.  
  
Abby jumped down from the couch and wrapped her arms around her dad's neck “I can’t wait to see the new place daddy… And we love you too”.  
  
Tyler smiled watching his sister and his dad, “Will our things be there this weekend when we visit?”  
  
Jubal hugged Abby lifting her on to his lap while looking at Tyler “They will, we moved everything over last night and by then we will have them all unpacked for you both, and this place has more room you guys will love it”.  
  
Jubal was glad that it had gone well with telling the kids his news, he was definitely going to have to tell Maggie about Abby’s reaction, his daughter was one of Maggie’s biggest fans. Tyler was a lot more relaxed when his questions were answered and was looking forward to seeing the new place. Now all Jubal had to do was tell his ex-wife and tell her that Maggie would be joining them for Christmas. But he had to wait until Sam came home, he was about to text Maggie and check in with her when Abby jumped on top of him.  
  
“Daddy, can we see Maggie on your phone?”  
  
“You mean FaceTime her?” Jubal chuckled wrapping his arm around Abby letting her lay on his chest and stomach as she seemed comfortable.  
  
“Like that night we talked to you both” Abby was scrolling through her dad's phone trying to find Maggie’s contact  
  
“Sure baby girl, Mags will hopefully be home” Jubal had got a text from Maggie to say work had been quiet, so she had gone to take care of some Christmas stuff  
  
“You call her Mags?” Abby looked at her dad.  
  
“Sometimes… It’s only something the people really close to her are allowed to call her... The way that you only like some people calling you Abby” Jubal was running his hand over his daughters head.  
  
“Are me and Tyler allowed to call her Mags?”  
  
“I don’t think she will mind, how about we ask her on the phone?”  
  
Abby nodded excitedly, Tyler was listening to the conversation as he was doing his homework so that they could play more before his dad went home. Jubal helped Abby with hitting the FaceTime button for Maggie. Maggie was sorting out some things in the apartment as a surprise for Jubal when she heard her phone, she went to the living room and smiled answering.  
  
“Hey, so how come I'm getting a FaceTime?”  
  
“Well I have someone here who wants to talk to you and couldn’t wait until the weekend” Jubal smirked and laughed when Abby was pulling at his hand until she was on the screen with Jubal  
  
“Hi Maggie, daddy told us he was moving in with you” the young girl was smiling brightly as she lay stretched out on her dad, her head resting on his chest  
  
Maggie took a screenshot as the image of Jubal with Abby laying on his chest was something that she wanted to see as many times as possible, she knew without a doubt that this was one of the cutest things she had ever seen.  
  
“He is but you and Tyler can still stay overnight with your daddy, it will be here. Are you okay with that?”  
  
Abby nodded, “Daddy said nothing changes just that he lives there now, and that we will get to see it this weekend”.  
  
“You will, I'm looking forward to seeing you and Tyler this weekend” Maggie smiled honestly  
  
Jubal was smiling as he watched his daughter and girlfriend chatting, he kissed Abby’s head, “Why don’t you ask Maggie your question, baby girl”  
  
Abby looked at her dad and whispered loudly “No daddy you ask her”  
  
Maggie was chuckling softly as she could hear Abby, “Abby you know that you can ask me anything you want to?”  
  
Jubal was loving how patient Maggie was being with Abby it filled his heart with so much love, “Go on baby girl”.  
  
Abby burrowed into her dad more but looked at the screen “I heard daddy calling you Mags, he said that only some people are allowed to call you that… Is Tyler and I allowed to call you Mags?” The young girl had gotten really shy by the end of the question and was trying to almost hide in her dad's shirt.  
  
“Would you and Tyler like to call me Mags?”  
  
Abby nodded and Tyler came over sitting beside his dad laying his head on his dad's arm so that he could see the screen which Maggie took a screenshot of, it was too adorable to resist “We would, but dad said we had to check with you first” Tyler smiled looking at Maggie on the screen.  
  
Maggie couldn’t believe how cute these two kids were and how much she really did love and care about them, she wanted them to always be a part of her life as well as their dad  
  
“You know it took me five years to let your daddy call me Mags… But…. I would absolutely love to have you both call me that if it is what you want”.  
  
Tyler smiled “Thank you Mags”  
  
Abby giggled looking at her dad “We are allowed to say Mags before you were daddy”  
  
Jubal chuckled looking at Abby kissing her head “You are baby girl, I told you that Maggie wouldn’t mind you calling her that” Jubal then looked at Maggie with his softened smile, the one reserved for only her, he couldn’t explain how much he truly loved her. The door opened and Sam announced to the kids that she was home but neither kids moved away from Jubal and the phone.  
  
“Okay you two, say bye to Maggie”  
  
“Bye Mags see you at the weekend” Tyler waved  
  
“Bye-bye Mags, see you soon” Abby waved smiling brightly  
  
Maggie smiled waving at the kids “I can’t wait to see you both this weekend”  
  
Sam had heard who the kids were talking to and found herself watching as the kids didn’t move as they wanted to say goodbye to her. Jubal hadn’t stopped smiling from the start of this FaceTime.  
  
“I’ll text you when I'm leaving here baby, love you”  
  
“See you tonight babe, Love you too” Maggie waved as she ended the call with them, and she still had the smile on her face as she went back to finish the surprise for Jubal.  
  
Jubal didn’t have to turn around to know that Sam was standing behind them having listened to the end of the FaceTime with Maggie. He put his phone back in his pocket and looked at the kids, “Why don’t you both go and wash up for dinner” The kids jumped down from the couch and ran to the bathroom as Jubal stood up and turned to face Sam.  
  
“I need to talk to you about something” Jubal looked at Sam  
  
“I'm guessing it’s got something to do with who was on your FaceTime call, can’t go a day without talking to her I see?”  
  
Jubal sighed, “Sam, we talked about this, Mags is going to be a part of my life, especially now that she and I live together”.  
  
“Live together? You’ve only been together for what 6 months?” The shock was clear in Sam’s voice.  
  
“I’ve known her for almost 6 years and I’m in love with her, Maggie is my future. I just wish that you could be happy for me the way that I am happy for you and Alan. The kids are going to come to stay in my new apartment this weekend which is Mags apartment as she thought it was best for the kids to get used to the new place before staying there Christmas night”.  
  
“So, she’s staying in the City for Christmas what about her own family?”  
  
“Mags has decided to stay in the City so that we can be together and I’ve invited her to join me here on Christmas morning, and for food, then the kids will be coming home with us and my sister will be joining that evening”  
  
“Do the kids know that you are moving in with Maggie?” Sam kept her focus on Jubal.  
  
“They do, I sat them down and explained it all to them, and they are looking forward to seeing the new place this weekend, all their stuff will be ready, and there for them”  
  
Sam knew there was no arguing right now, Jubal was clearly in love, her kids loved Maggie, and she knew from his tone that he wasn’t in the mood to be argued with. The kids choose that moment to come running in and up to their dad and hugging him.  
  
“I will see you both this weekend, be good for mummy... I love you both” Jubal hugged the kids tight kissing both their heads and Abby pulled her dad's sleeve until he hunkered down beside her, and she kissed his cheek and hugged him again.  
  
“That ones for Mags” She whispered, well as much as a six-year-old could whisper  
  
“I will make sure to pass them on baby girl” Jubal smiled as he stood back up and said one final goodbye to the kids before leaving so that they could have their dinner as it was time for him to head home.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie has a surprise for Jubal when he gets home from visiting the kids

Jubal had texted Maggie when he was leaving the kids, and she asked him to pick up some take out as she didn’t have to time to make dinner, with the take out collected he headed home to their apartment. Jubal still got a large smile on his face when he thought about it being ‘Their’ apartment. He used the key that Maggie had given him for the first time as he opened the door stepping into the apartment and simply because he couldn’t resist he called out  
  
“Baby I'm home”  
  
He had such a large smile on his face as he walked into the kitchen setting the pizza boxes down on the counter. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around expecting it to be Maggie, but he was surprised to see his sister standing there  
  
“You know you might as well have sung that you sounded so happy” she teased him  
  
Jubal walked over and hugged his sister, “Hey, it’s the first time that I could say it” he chuckled, “What are you doing here?”  
  
“Nice to see you too baby brother” She slapped his arm playfully “Your lovely girlfriend called me this morning and asked for some help, and she is a very hard woman to say no to” His sister teased playfully  
  
“Mags needed your help?” Jubal got worried for a minute trying to figure out why Maggie would need Jen without telling him “Where is Maggie?”  
  
“I'm right here” Maggie had heard Jubal as she made her way down the hall, and she stepped into their living room seeing Jubal standing with Jen “Your sister moved a little too fast when she heard you calling out” she chuckled softly  
  
“Do either of you want to tell me what is going on?” Jubal looked between two of the most important women in his life  
  
“I’ll leave and let Maggie fill you in” Jen smiled  
  
“No Jen stay, please. You helped so, you should be a part of this” Maggie smiled, and she walked over taking Jubal’s hand, “Come on, I've something to show you”  
  
“I'm not sure if I should be happy or worried that you two have been clearly up to something all day that I know nothing about” He looked at Maggie and Jen raising his eyebrow playfully  
  
“You will be happy when you see what it is” Jen smirked, she loved knowing something that her brother didn’t even if only for a few hours  
  
Maggie led Jubal upstairs to her spare room, and she stopped at the closed door and turned to look at him as she squeezed his hand gently “So, I know the kids are coming to stay with us this weekend, and I want them to feel at home when they are here. I want both Abby and Tyler to feel comfortable when they are here, and even more after their FaceTime call... So when I was allowed to have the day off I rang Jen, and she was more than happy to help me with this and I hope that you like it…”  
  
Maggie opened the door to the spare room, and she stepped in taking Jubal with her as Jen stood at the door as she wanted to see her brothers reaction. Inside the room was two single beds with unicorn bed covers on one and sports-themed bedclothes on the other. The few things that he had belonging to the kids in his apartment were spread out around the room, making it a proper and cosy bedroom for Abby and Tyler.  
  
Jubal couldn’t believe what he was seeing, that Maggie had done all of this for his kids and wanted to surprise him with it. She had clearly put a lot of time and effort into the room and the way that it was decorated making sure the kids had what would make them feel comfortable and what they were used to having at their dads. He had tears in his eyes as he looked at Maggie after looking around the room  
  
“You did all of this for the kids?… Mags I don’t even know what to say…this is perfect, you are perfect”  
  
“I'm not sure I've ever seen him this speechless” Jen couldn’t resist teasing as she wiped a tear from her eye  
  
Maggie stood in front of Jubal, and she wiped the tear on his cheek that had fallen from his eye, “So, you think they’ll like it?”  
  
Jubal leaned into Maggie’s touch and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer to him “Like it? Baby they are going to absolutely love this... I really can’t believe you both done all of this for Abby and Tyler… It means so much”  
  
Jen shook her head “It was all Maggie’s idea, I just helped with moving stuff, the rest was all her”  
  
Jubal looked at Maggie and not caring that his sister was behind him he leaned in and kissed her with so much love holding her tight against him, resting his forehead against hers when he broke the kiss “I love you so much baby... I honestly can’t thank you enough for doing all of this, you spent your day off doing this?”  
  
“This is our home now babe, so the kids should feel that way when they come here and when you had the day with the kids I knew it was the perfect opportunity to surprise you with all of this. I knew that you telling the kids today and then having to tell Sam would be a lot, so, I wanted you to come home to this”  
  
Jubal hugged Maggie tight and kissed her cheek and chuckled at her confused look, “That’s from Abby, I was under strict instructions that I had to pass it on to you as soon as I got home”  
  
“I swear that little girl is so goddam adorable” Maggie smiled wrapping her arms around Jubal’s neck  
  
“Oh you have a huge fan in my youngest, it really was her that wanted to FaceTime you” Jubal was smiling looking at Maggie and then looked at his sister, “Wait. Were you here for that?”  
  
“I was and thankfully Maggie hid my victory dance when I heard Sam announce that she was home and the kids didn’t even move” Jen smirked  
  
Maggie couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped “She’s not joking either she was actually dancing in our hallway, and I thought seeing you struggling not to talk was fun but Jen was really biting her tongue so that she didn’t join the conversation”  
  
“I never knew you could show so much restraint” Jubal teased his older sister who slapped his arm lightly  
  
“I love you two, but all I can smell is pizza, I'm starving and Maggie said that you have changed the Christmas plans a little so, you can fill me in over pizza” Jen smiled as she left heading back down the stairs  
  
Maggie went to follow her but Jubal stopped her as she smiled honestly “I could thank you every day from now for the rest of our lives and it wouldn’t be enough to really express how much I appreciate what you have done here today baby.”  
  
She smiled running the backs of her fingers along his cheek gently “You really don’t have to thank me babe, I know how much you love your kids, they really are impossible not to love, I wanted to do this for you and them. I want to show I'm not trying to take their dad away from them in any way”  
  
“You know I told the kids today that both you and I love them both so much, and that won't ever change, Abby crawled up into my lap and said that she loves us too… She really does love you and so does Tyler, he will just take a little longer to express it”  
  
“They don’t ever have to express it if they don’t want to, it won’t change how much I love them or you or how much I want them to think of here as a home as well”  
  
“You are constantly surprising me Maggie Bell, and I am without a doubt the luckiest man alive, the most amazing kids, and the most incredible woman in the world, as my girlfriend and sharing a home with me”  
  
“You opened your life to me and made this all a possibility, I love you so much and I really can’t wait to see what the kids think of their room this weekend”  
  
“They are going to love it” Jubal smiled running his hand along Maggie’s arm taking her hand, “Come on let's go eat and fill Sam in on our Christmas plans”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids arrive for their first overnight stay with Maggie and Jubal

The next few days at work had gone by so quickly, they had caught a case but for once it was one that was solved without causing too much emotional stress on the team. OA and Maggie had let Stuart and his new Partner Tiffany Wallace take the lead on most of the case to help Tiffany get used to the way they worked. Things had also been going buy quickly at home with Jubal unpacking everything, he had already felt comfortable in Maggie’s apartment so, it didn’t take long for this to feel like home to him. They had moved the kids presents up into Maggie’s closet so that they wouldn’t see them over the weekend.  
  
Both Maggie and Jubal needed to finish at the same time on Friday as they wanted to go home and get ready for the kids coming there straight from school. Jubal had decided to be honest and tell Isobel why he and Maggie needed to finish at the same time, she had told him she had no issues with it as the others could handle what was left of the case. Isobel also wished Jubal good luck as she knew this was the first overnight stay for the kids with Maggie.  
  
When OA had asked Maggie why she was finishing early she told him that she was just due her regular check-up with her doctor before Christmas, and he thankfully accepted that as he knew they had to stay on top of their medicals. No one questioned why Jubal was leaving he just told them it was work-related, and he and Maggie left at different times, so not to make it obvious but Ian couldn’t help the smirk when he found out that both were heading home early.  
  
They had given the apartment one final check, and Maggie had changed into sweat pants and Jubal’s hoodie and was leaving their bedroom to head back downstairs when she found Jubal standing at the door to the kid's bedroom. Maggie came up behind him and wrapped her arm around his waist laying her chin on his shoulder.  
  
“You doing okay babe?”  
  
Jubal smiled the minute he felt Maggie’s hand wrap around his waist, he lay his hand on top of hers on his stomach, and he turned his head to kiss her temple.  
  
“I'm more than okay baby, I just can’t stop looking at this room and thinking about how you have done all of this for Abby and Tyler. I can’t wait to have them stay with us this weekend, I get to have three of my favourite people all to myself this weekend and under the same roof” Jubal turned around to face Maggie as he wrapped his arms around her waist kissing her forehead, “How are you feeling baby?”  
  
“A little nervous but also excited” Maggie knew that it was better to be honest with Jubal “I just want this weekend to go well so that the kids feel comfortable coming back. But you know if they need time with you alone please just tell me, I promise that’s not going to upset me or cause tension between you and me. I know that the kids are used to having you all to themselves when they stay with you”.  
  
“You have no reason to be nervous baby the kids are going to love it here, they were genuinely so excited when I said, that they would be staying with both of us this weekend. I might take some time with Tyler to build some of his Lego that we have here but I’ll still be in the apartment if Abby needs me. Thank you for thinking so much about the kids, and what is best for them, not many people would be as understanding as you are about all of this”.  
  
Maggie smiled as she leaned up kissing Jubal softly “I think me and Abby can do something fun while the boys build Lego and like you said, you are still here if she needs anything.” Before Maggie could say anything else the doorbell rang, and she smiled when she saw Jubal’s eyes light up knowing it was the kids, “Come on let’s go show the kids around our home”.  
  
Jubal couldn’t shake the smile on his face nor did he want to, he kept Maggie’s hand in his as he made his way to the door and the minute that he opened he had Abby practically jumping into his arms wrapping her arms around his neck, “Hi daddy”  
  
Maggie laughed putting her hand on Jubal’s back to steady him from the force of Abby jumping into his arms saying Hi to Abby as well. Tyler was coming walking up the steps carrying two bags, Maggie stepped passed Jubal walking to Tyler, “Here let me take those for you Tyler”.  
  
Tyler smiled “Thanks Mags... I just got to grab my school bag really quickly” Tyler went back to the car to grab his bag. Sam waved at the kids from the car and told Jubal she would check in with them over the weekend. Maggie waited on the steps for Tyler and walked back up with him and into the apartment.  
  
When they got inside the apartment Jubal wrapped his free arm around Tyler kissing his head, “Hey buddy…. So how about we show you two where your room is and take your bags up there, you can leave your school bags here because homework will be done at the kitchen table” Jubal sat Abby down so that she could go over and leave her school bag at the table as did Tyler.  
  
Maggie was surprised when she felt Abby’s hand slide into hers “You excited to see where you will be sleeping?” Jubal led the way down the hallway and up the stairs to show the kids their room.  
  
Abby was swinging Maggie’s hand as they walked, “Is our room close to where daddy will be sleeping?”  
  
Jubal had told Maggie that Abby always needed to know where her dad was sleeping and how to get to him in case she had a bad dream or needed him. Maggie smiled looking at Abby as they walked up the stairs “It’s really close, there are three rooms up here, daddy’s room, yours and Tyler’s bedroom and the bathroom”.  
  
Jubal and Tyler made it to the room first but Jubal had kept the door closed waiting for Abby and Maggie, and he smiled looking at all three of them “So Maggie decorated this room for you guys when I was with you on Tuesday and I think you will know which bed belongs to whom... You ready to see?”  
  
Both kids nodded their head, they were both nervous and excited as their dad opened the door and nodded for them to go into the room. Abby squealed as she ran over to the bed with unicorns on it and climbed up on to it lifting the unicorn teddy that had come from Jubal’s place. Tyler was looking around the room at the bed and how everything that had been in their dad’s apartment was here.  
  
“This is so cool... Thank you, dad and Mags” Tyler looked around the room more and then frowned a little as he noticed something was missing, “What happened our Lego?”  
  
“Your Lego is downstairs in a spare room, you and your dad can work on it in the living room or in the spare room, so I thought it was better there where there was more room. But if you prefer to have it up here we can move it no problem” Maggie focused on Tyler while talking to him as she knew that building Lego with his dad was important to Tyler.  
  
Tyler came over and hugged Maggie, this was the first time that he had embraced her in a proper full hug “Thank you… The spare room or living room sounds perfect” Jubal was trying not to get emotional watching Tyler embracing Maggie as he knew this was a big step for him.  
  
“You are very welcome Tyler” Maggie smiled hugging him back just as tightly, she knew she had made the right decision doing all of this for the kids, “And it can be easily moved if you want”  
  
Abby jumped down off the bed and ran over to Tyler and Maggie wrapping her arms around them “I want hugs too” Tyler laughed wrapping an arm around his sister neither of them aware that their dad was taking a picture of them on his phone, but Maggie noticed straight away, and she saw the emotion in Jubal's eyes at what he was seeing.  
  
Jubal slid his phone into his pocket and chuckled watching the three of them “Okay you two I think you need to let go of Maggie so that we can go back downstairs and get some food. I know you guys must be starving after school, and the journey here”.  
  
Maggie and Jubal took the kids back down to the living room and told them to get comfy on the couch while Jubal and Maggie was going to make dinner but Maggie stopped Jubal, “Go spend time with the kids, I can make dinner and I can still see you guys from here”  
  
“Are you sure?” Jubal didn’t want to leave Maggie having to do things for his kids all weekend.  
  
“I'm sure babe… go…”  
  
Jubal leaned in stealing a quick kiss from Maggie before heading over to join the kids and Maggie smiled watching as the two kids snuggled into their dad's sides straight away. She took out her phone and took a picture of the three of them and sent it to Jen, ‘Thought you would like this picture of your baby brother and your niece and nephew.”  
  
Maggie was surprised when a reply came back straight away from Jen, ‘Oh my heart! I love it, thank you for even thinking of sending this. Enjoy your weekend with the kids’.  
  
Maggie got back to finishing up dinner, and she brought over three bowls of pasta to Jubal and the kids before joining them with her own. They just relaxed the rest of the evening listening to the kids filling them in on what had been going on in school and all the Christmas events that were taking place which reminded Abby that she had a question.  
  
“Daddy, can you and Mags get the same time off work?” Abby was sitting curled up on her dad's lap with Maggie sitting one side of him and Tyler the other side.  
  
“Sometimes we can baby girl, why you asking?”  
  
Tyler knew why Abby was asking, and he went over to his school bag and took a letter from the school and handed it to his dad but Abby was talking again before he had the time to read it.  
  
“We are having a Christmas concert on Wednesday can you both come?” Abby looked at Maggie and then her dad.  
  
Jubal looked at Maggie to get confirmation that she would be okay to go with him if they got the time away from work, he smiled seeing her nod at him, so he turned his attention back to Abby “We have to ask our boss if we can have the time off, but I can send her a text now and ask her”  
  
“And if we both can’t go, your daddy will definitely be there because I and the rest of our team will cover for him at work…”  
  
“But you both will try?” Tyler looked at Maggie and his dad being the one to ask this time.  
  
“We both will try buddy I promise, I’ll ask our boss tonight before we go to bed”  
  
Both kids were more than happy with this response from both adults and it wasn’t long until it was time for them to get ready for bed. Maggie said good night to the kids and left Jubal with them in their room to read them a story, telling them to have some time together. It wasn’t long until Jubal was joining Maggie in bed and true to his word he text Isobel asking if he and Maggie could have a few hours off on Wednesday to attend the kids Christmas Concert. Isobel replied immediately to say they would try their best to make it happen for both but that he could definitely go as the team would cover.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie and Jubal have breakfast with Jubal and they ask Maggie for some help with something.

Maggie had been in a light sleep listening out in case either of the kids needed anything, especially with it being their first night in a new place. She heard something moving at their bedroom door, so she sat up in the bed to see the door opening a little, feeling Jubal’s arm tighten around her waist at the movement.  
  
“Hey, Abby sweetheart is everything okay?” The sweetheart had slipped out in a sleepy daze, and she was thankful that Jubal had reminded her last night that Abby may appear in their room as she usually ended up in his bed during the night at his old apartment.  
  
“I couldn’t get back to sleep and wanted to come to see you and daddy” The young girl was a little unsure as she stood at the door cuddling her unicorn teddy clearly feeling shy.  
  
Maggie pulled back the bed covers and held her arms out to Abby, “Come on in, I’ll lift you up between me and your daddy.”  
  
Abby didn’t hesitate as she saw Maggie’s arms reach out for her, the little girl made her way quickly to Maggie’s side of the bed, and she lifted the young girl up into the bed, and they both chuckled when Maggie had to lift Jubal’s arm so that Abby could slide in between the two adults.  
  
“Daddy was holding you like a teddy” The young girl giggled talking as quiet as she could  
  
Maggie lay back down on her pillow pulling the covers around them as Abby wiggled a little to get comfortable between the two adults, which woke Jubal a little.  
  
“Mags everything okay?” Jubal hadn't opened his eyes yet as he was still half asleep but had clearly felt something moving in their bed.  
  
Maggie leaned up on her elbow to see Jubal and Abby who hadn’t moved hearing her dad talking “We have a little visitor.”  
  
“We what?” Jubal was slightly confused as he rubbed his face gently forcing his eyes to open, and he was faced with Abby laying watching him “Hey there baby girl you okay?” Jubal wrapped his arm around Abby letting her snuggle in tight to his chest.  
  
“I had a bad dream. And couldn’t get back to sleep, Mags lifted me up in between you both, but you were holding her like a teddy” Abby had closed her eyes feeling safe and warm in her dad's arms with Maggie beside them.  
  
Maggie laughed softly seeing Jubal’s confusion “You wouldn’t let go, I had to lift your arm to let Abby slide in between us”.  
  
Jubal was running his fingers through Abby’s hair slowly knowing that it would help her fall asleep again “You're safe here with me and Mags baby girl, so try to get some more sleep” Jubal looked at Maggie and mouthed 'I'm Sorry’ he knew he had warned Maggie this might happen, but he knew that this was all completely new to her.  
  
Maggie shook her head at him when he apologised, to her he really had nothing to apologise for, she reached over caressing his cheek gently to let him know that she was okay with it.  
  
“Love you both” Abby mumbled as she fell back to sleep with the heat from both adults laying either side of her and Jubal had such a large smile on his face when he heard Abby and even more when he heard Maggie tell her that she loved her too. This was a first for Jubal, he had never shared a bed with Abby and anyone other than Sam, he had never wanted to let anyone get close to his kids before. But now he wanted so many moments like this with Maggie and his kids.  
  
Maggie could see the emotion in Jubal’s eyes and that his mind was going crazy with thoughts, she carefully leaned over Abby and kissed him softly “I love you... Enjoy the moment babe” She smiled whispering letting him know that she knew this was a big thing for him but that she was right there with him.  
  
Jubal reached over taking Maggie’s hand in his as he lay watching her over his sleeping daughter curled up in his arms “I love you so much baby.”  
  
Maggie caressed Jubal’s hand gently with her thumb as she pulled the covers tight around them as both adults get comfortable and managed to both fall back to sleep. Jubal was the first to awaken a few hours later, and he noticed that his chest was cold, so he thought that maybe Abby had gotten out of their bed, but he opened his eyes to see Abby curled into Maggie's side with her head on Maggie's shoulder and Maggie's arm had wrapped around Abby holding her safely snuggled into her side. He lay watching them for a few minutes wanting to cherish this moment, he lifted his phone from the bedside table and took a picture of Maggie and Abby before carefully sliding out of bed making sure not to waken them.  
  
Jubal was going to head down to the kitchen to make everyone breakfast, he stopped in to check on Tyler and seen that his son was waking up, “Hey buddy the girls are still asleep in my room, do you want to come to help me make breakfast?”  
  
Tyler smiled seeing and hearing his dad, “Can we make pancakes with chocolate sauce if we have some fruit too?” The young boy was getting out of bed as he talked soon joining his dad as they made their way downstairs.  
  
Jubal realised that it had been a long time since he and Tyler had been able to make breakfast, with having the two kids to himself he was trying to spend time with them both but with Abby safe in bed with Maggie Jubal could give his full attention to Tyler, and he couldn’t stop smiling at this rare opportunity. This was what their future could be like as he was no longer alone, he had Maggie right by his side who truly wanted to be a part of everything with him.  
  
Maggie was woke a little while later by feeling something or rather someone tapping her cheek gently, she opened her eyes to see Abby sitting up in the bed beside her “Hey Abby, you okay?”  
  
Abby smiled brightly seeing Maggie awake now “I don’t know where daddy has gone”.  
  
Maggie rubbed her eyes and sat up in the bed, and she smiled as she could hear noise coming from downstairs “I think he’s downstairs with Tyler, come on we can go and join them”  
  
Maggie climbed out of the bed and slid on Jubal’s hoodie over his T-shirt that she had on, she turned around to see Abby was sitting on the bed with her arms reached out for Maggie. She walked over to the bed and lifted Abby into her arms resting the young girl on her hip who lay her head on Maggie’s shoulder cuddling her unicorn teddy as they made their way downstairs. When they stepped into the living room Maggie stopped to just take in the view in front of her, Jubal was laughing and smiling so much while making breakfast with Tyler who also had a large smile on his face.  
  
As if being able to sense that someone was watching him Jubal lifted his head and his eyes landed on Maggie and Abby straight away, and he honestly wasn’t sure his heart could handle so much love, “Hey sleepy heads”.  
  
Abby giggled hearing her dad, “Morning daddy... Tyler what you making?”  
  
“Dad, and I made pancakes, and we get to have chocolate sauce if we agree to eat some fruit” Tyler smiled at his little sister  
  
Maggie walked towards the kitchen still carrying Abby and when she was close enough Jubal leaned in giving her a quick kiss as the kids were with them “Good morning baby” he smiled looking at Maggie  
  
“Good morning babe…. It is not often that I have two guys in our kitchen cooking up breakfast, is there anything that Abby and I can do to help?”  
  
“We can ask the girls to do the drinks buddy what you think?” Jubal looked at Tyler.  
  
“Is there Juice for me and Abby?”  
  
Maggie nodded, “There is, we went yesterday picked up what your dad said was your favourites”.  
  
“Then some juice please and pancakes are nearly ready” Tyler got back to concentrating on the pancakes, and plating them up with little bowls of fruit  
  
Maggie smiled watching him and then looked at Jubal “I see you two had a lot of fun in here this morning”  
  
“We really have… Thank you for making that possible by being with Abby” Jubal leaned in and kissed his daughters head who was still laying her head on Maggie’s shoulder and Jubal chuckled softly “It does always take you a little while to wake up in the mornings baby girl”.  
  
Maggie smiled feeling Abby nodding, “Why don’t you go and wait on the couch for some yummy pancakes and I’ll get everyone drinks” Abby got down from Maggie’s arms and went over to the couch putting on some cartoons while Maggie got the kids Pineapple Juice and coffee for her and Jubal.  
  
All four of them had enjoyed breakfast together, everyone was so relaxed and happy about getting this time together. Maggie was so thankful that the kids really did seem at ease being in a new place, and Jubal hadn’t stopped smiling since the kids had arrived yesterday. She had told Jubal to go and take a shower and get ready as they were going to take the kids into the city to see the lights and the Christmas tree. She cleaned up the kitchen after breakfast while the kids were allowed to watch a cartoon.  
  
“Maggie, can we ask something?” Tyler looked at Maggie while asking.  
  
When she heard his question she came into the living room and sat down beside him smiling softly “Of course you can, you guys can ask me anything”  
  
“Would you be able to help us pick out a present for Dad for Christmas”  
  
“We want something he can use at work” Abby jumped in kneeling up on the couch getting closer to Tyler and Maggie as they were talking quietly  
  
Tyler looked at Maggie “You work with Dad, so we were hoping you could help”  
  
Maggie smiled hearing the kids, she felt a lot of love for them right now as she knew this was a great sign that they were coming to her for help. It showed that they really did feel comfortable and trusted her.  
  
“Of course I can, I would love to help… If we can’t sneak away today to go and pick him out something I promise that I will get your dad sorted with a gift from you both in time for Christmas Day”.  
  
Both Tyler and Abby hugged Maggie thanking her as they were both so excited that they were getting him something that he could use at work or at least have at work with him. Maggie told the kids to go and get dressed because they would be heading in to the City really soon.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jubal and Maggie say goodbye to the kids as Sam comes to collect them

Jubal, Maggie and the kids had spent hours in the City walking around taking in all the Christmas lights and decorations with both kids being amazed at the size of the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. Maggie had taken pictures of the kids standing in front of the tree and them standing with their dad in front of the tree, Jubal had taken a picture of Maggie and the kids admiring the lights as both were holding her hand due to the crowds.  
  
They had stopped to get some hot chocolate for the kids and Coffee for the adults to warm them up a little but the kids were having so much fun that the cold wasn’t really bothering them that much. Maggie couldn’t believe that this had become her life, walking around the City with her boyfriend and his kids. She hadn't been a huge fan of Christmas, since, her husband Jason died, he was the one that really loved Christmas but Jubal and the kids had changed that so much, and for the first time in a long time she was looking forward to Christmas she just wished she had the time to go visit her family as well.  
  
They had gone out for dinner finding a family-friendly restaurant and both kids were exhausted by the time they got home so, it wasn't long before the kids were tucked up in bed. They had asked to speak to Maggie before going to sleep, and she promised the kids that she would get the present for their dad this week as they didn't today.  
  
Jubal and Maggie had taken an early night on Saturday with both feeling tired after the early start and busy day. They woke the next morning with Abby jumping on their bed, and they got up straight away as they knew the kids were going home around lunchtime. Jubal was sitting at the table helping Tyler finish up his homework while Maggie was upstairs with Abby packing their bag making sure they had everything. They had just made their way back downstairs when the doorbell rang, Jubal was sitting with Tyler so Maggie answered the door as Abby ran to her dad.  
  
“Hey Sam, come on in”  
  
“I'm good here, are the kids ready”  
  
“Tyler is just finishing up his homework with Jubal, they shouldn't be much longer. You sure you don't want to come in and wait?”  
  
Sam really didn't want to go into their apartment, but she couldn't come up with a good reason why not to, so she nodded at Maggie stepping into the apartment. Abby jumped down from her dad's lap, and Sam thought she was running towards her, but she ran to Maggie and pulled on her arm until Maggie hunkered down in front of her.  
  
“Thank you for so much fun this weekend Mags… I'm sorry for climbing into bed with you and daddy”.  
  
Maggie knew that Sam was standing close enough to hear everything, but she didn't care as she focused completely on Abby  
  
“I'm so glad that you had so much fun Abby... And you don't have to apologise sweetheart, you are the reason that Daddy and Tyler got to make breakfast yesterday morning”.  
  
Abby threw her arms around Maggie's neck hugging her so tight. Sam was getting really angry as she listened and realised that it sounded like they had a proper family weekend this weekend. She looked at Tyler and Jubal.  
  
“Tyler let’s go we can finish it at home, Alan is waiting on us for dinner”  
  
Jubal knew Sam was agitated, but he wasn't about to let that ruin the great weekend he had with the kids.  
  
“He’s finished Sam just give him a minute to pack up his bag” Jubal got up from the kitchen table and walked over to where they were all standing, and he lifted Abby into his arms hugging her tight kissing her cheek  
  
“We will see you and Mags on Wednesday?”  
  
“If work allows baby girl we both will be there but I will definitely be there... Did you pack everything?”  
  
Abby nodded, “Mags helped and made me check twice”.  
  
Maggie smiled watching Jubal and Abby, and was surprised when she felt Tyler hugging her, but she was hugging him back instantly as he thanked her for a great weekend. Jubal carried Abby along with one of the bags out to the car as Tyler walked with his mum who was carrying the other bag. Jubal made sure that both kids were in safe, and he kissed them both before walking back up the steps to Maggie, he wrapped his arm around Maggie's shoulders as they waved at the kids, and he kissed her temple.  
  
“Thank you so much for this weekend baby, the kids had an amazing weekend and so did I”  
  
They waved again at the kids as they drove away and Maggie walked inside the apartment taking Jubal with her  
  
“Babe you don't have to thank me honestly I had so much fun this weekend. The kid's excitement about Christmas rubbed off and you haven't stopped smiling since they arrived Friday... I got to see you relaxed and in Dad mode all weekend so, it should be me thanking the kids”.  
  
Maggie smiled kissing Jubal softly as they both playfully fell to sit on the couch both exhausted in a good way from the weekend, leaning their heads back against the couch before Jubal pulled her into his side kissing her head  
  
“I don't know the last time that I got to have that much time with Tyler and not feel like I was leaving Abby out. I knew she was safe with you in bed, and Tyler was laughing, smiling and talking so much while we made breakfast. I'm sorry about our bed guest” he chuckled softly.  
  
“I'm so glad that you and Tyler got to have that time together it seemed to be exactly what you both needed…” she chuckled hearing about the bed guest “You had told me that might happen and I didn't mind at all, it was certainly new but Abby seemed comfortable with it all”  
  
“Baby she was definitely comfortable she didn't even flinch when I got out of the bed yesterday morning usually, she would waken as soon as she felt me leaving… You did look very comfortable having her snuggled into your side... seeing you this weekend with the kids, the way they are with you, they trust you so much, they really do love you and that makes me love you even more”.  
  
Maggie tilted her head to see Jubal, “Well the feeling is mutual babe because I absolutely adore and love those kids. I think this weekend they saw that I will do what I can to help them, and they can talk to me about anything… And hey Abby is nowhere near as clingy as her dad” she smirked playfully and laughed when Jubal started tickling her until she was laying under him on the couch.  
  
He lifted himself up with one arm as he looked down at Maggie laughing under him trying to calm her breathing down from laughing as he brushed her hair from her face  
  
“I'm never going to apologise for being clingy with you, I truly do love you so much Maggie”  
  
“I love you too Jubal Valentine thank you for turning my world upside down in all the right ways”  
  
Jubal leaned down closing the distance as he kissed Maggie slowly with so much love as he felt her hand move to the nape of his neck caressing his skin causing a moan to escape from his lips to hers.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jubal plans a surprise for Maggie

Jubal had wanted to do something special for Maggie, she had been so amazing with helping him move in, buying a new Christmas Tree for the kids, having the kids stay with them at the weekend and surprising him with the way that she had their room ready for them. He had spent the last few days trying to think of something that she would really want that would mean a lot to her. He was sitting listening to the team talking about their plans for Christmas when the idea of what to get her came to mind. He stepped away from the team, and he went to find Ian.  
  
“Hey Ian, I need your help with something, it’s personal though so, you can say no if you want to”  
  
Ian was surprised to hear that this was personal as it wasn’t like Jubal to ask for help with personal things, so he knew that the man clearly trusted him if he was asking for help  
  
“I'm happy to help how many laws are we breaking?” He smirked playfully at Jubal!  
  
Jubal shook his head laughing, “None… but it does involve Maggie, and she’s going to know that I got some help”  
  
“Are you trying to tell me that this may result in Maggie killing me?”  
  
“She won’t kill you just might pretend to be mad at you for a little bit... If this turns out the way that I think it will…”  
  
Ian leaned back in his chair and looked at Jubal, “Okay, tell me what you need”.  
  
Ian and Jubal got to work on what Jubal was hoping was going to be a great surprise for Maggie, they were close to being finished when Maggie walked into the room they had taken over, but Ian was able to hide anything on his screen quickly  
  
“Hey, you two hiding away in here?”  
  
“You think we want to miss out on OA and Kristen’s questions and Christmas plans?” Jubal joked playfully.  
  
“Or watch Stuart try not to flirt with Kristen and just end up looking a little awkward” Ian hadn’t taken his eyes off the screen while speaking  
  
Maggie laughed hearing Ian “I thought you didn’t pay attention to people’s personal lives?”  
  
Ian turned to look at Maggie “I try not to but then some just make it obvious, you saying you haven't noticed that Kristen and Stuart are clearly into each other?”  
  
“I'm hoping that wasn’t a dig at us that we were obvious” Jubal joked with Ian, “But yes we have noticed that Kristen and Stuart are into each other as you put, it”  
  
Maggie slapped Jubal’s arm making Ian laugh as Jubal looked at Maggie, “Hey! What was that for?”  
  
Maggie raised her eyebrow, “Really you are going to take the credit for noticing that Kristen and Stuart were into each other?”  
  
Ian was really getting to enjoy seeing Maggie and Jubal like this, he wasn’t used to seeing this side to them, and they felt comfortable in front of him as he knew about them. It also made him realise that they both trusted him not to be hiding in front of him anymore.  
  
“Okay okay” Jubal held his hands up laughing, “Mags noticed and told me and then it was all I could see when I watched them” Jubal looked at Ian “You see what I have to put up with at home?” He smirked looking at Maggie before pulling her gently closer to him as he was leaning against the desk.  
  
“I mean if it were Maggie that noticed sounded like you might have deserved that… Wait you just said home again are you sure you two aren’t living together?” Ian looked at them both, truth be told he was honestly really happy to see them so happy and it was clear they loved each other.  
  
Jubal looked at Maggie, and she nodded her head smiling as Jubal gently moved her to stand between his legs, and he wrapped his arms around her waist as she stood with her side against his chest facing Ian. Jubal couldn’t help the smile as he looked at Ian.  
  
“Actually that kind of changed last week... Seems Mags couldn't spend a minute without me and asked me to move in, so, I moved in last week” Maggie rolled her eyes playfully hearing Jubal, but she couldn’t stop smiling.  
  
“Congratulations, I may not be one for relationships but you two seem really happy and it’s nice to see, you both deserve it” Ian had noticed that Jubal had called her Mags a few times and again that just made him aware how much they both trusted him and that meant so much to him  
  
“Thank you, Ian, that honestly means a lot, and I hope we haven’t put you in an awkward situation with the others not knowing yet” Maggie had meant to talk to Ian about this sooner but kept missing her opportunity  
  
Ian shook his head “They know that I would never tell anyway, so they don’t even ask or when they do they aren’t expecting an answer so honestly, it hasn’t changed anything. Well apart from the fact that when they do eventually find out I’ll be able to tell OA and Kristen that I knew before them” he smirked playfully.  
  
Jubal shook his head laughing “I swear you all really do act like siblings at times”  
  
Maggie got a message to her phone and checked it before sliding it back into her pocket looking at them both “I totally forgot that I came in here to ask you two if you want anything for lunch, we are going out to pick up some food. That was OA wanting to know where I am because he’s going to pass out of hunger”.  
  
“Now OA just sounds like Abby when she gets hungry” Jubal laughed before he and Ian gave Maggie their order, and she was surprised when Jubal stole a quick kiss from her lips before she left saying bye to him and Ian. Jubal was watching Maggie leave and was still looking at the door even though she had gone.  
  
“Dam you’ve really got it bad for Maggie don’t you?” For once there actually wasn’t any joking in Ian’s voice.  
  
“I do... It’s why I really want this surprise to work, and for her to hopefully enjoy it”.  
  
“I’ve heard Maggie over the last, what, almost six years here, she is going to love this Jubal”  
  
The rest of the day at work had gone by rather quickly for them, Jubal had been a little quieter than usual as he was slightly nervous about what he had planned for Maggie. They were laying on the couch watching something on the TV with the room being lit by their Christmas tree lights just enjoying getting some time together where they could relax. Maggie was laying once again in Jubal’s hoodie, he had come to realise that she was in it as often as possible at home, and it always made him smile seeing her wear it. Maggie was about to ask Jubal if everything was okay as she had noticed that he had been quieter, but she was interrupted by a knock to their door, she looked at Jubal.  
  
“Did you order dinner?”  
  
Jubal shook his head, “No... Why don’t you check who it is, I’ll wait here in case it’s Kristen or OA” Jubal knew exactly who it was, but he wanted and needed Maggie to answer the door for this to work.  
  
Maggie got up from the couch and went over to the door opening it as she was greeted by a loud ‘Surprise.” It took Maggie a few seconds for words to come out of her mouth, and she wasn't even sure they were being said out loud.  
  
“What are you all doing here?!”  
  
“Why don’t you ask your boyfriend”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie finds out how Jubal put together the surprise for her

Maggie looked at Jubal who was now standing leaning against the back of their couch, he knew from the tears in her eyes that she had no idea he had been planning this all morning with Ian.  
  
“You planned all this?”  
  
“I know how much you have been missing them and that you wanted to go home for Christmas but are staying in the City to be with me. So, I thought that I would bring Mel and your parents to you for a few days”  
  
Just as Jubal had finished talking he was wrapped up in a tight hug from Maggie who had a few tears fall as she hugged him tight whispering to him “Thank you”  
  
Jubal wrapped his arms just as tight around Maggie holding her close to him running his hand along her back, he knew from her voice that she was very emotional and was letting some tears fall.  
  
Melissa cleared her throat, “As cute and sweet as you two are being can we actually come inside?”  
  
Maggie pulled back from Jubal and wiped her eyes chuckling at her sister’s words, “When have you ever waited for an invitation?”  
  
Mel pulled a face at Maggie before setting her bag down and hugging her sister tight and whispered to her “You got one of the good ones hold on tight to him”  
  
Maggie smiled hearing Mel, and she stepped back to go over and hug her parents, they both hugged her so tight as it had been a long time since they had seen her in person. Mel came over to Jubal and hugged him without any warning, but he was happy to return the hug, she stood in front of him smiling.  
  
“Thank you for arranging all of this, you've made me and my parents very happy and Mags will never forget you doing this for her”  
  
“I'm just glad that you could all make it at such short notice, Mags has really been missing you all” Jubal smiled watching Maggie with her parents, he had to admit that he was very nervous about meeting them.  
  
Maggie wiped more tears from her eyes after several hugs with her parents, and then she smiled looking at Jubal, and she led her parents towards the living room to where he and Mel was standing.  
  
“Mum, Dad this is Jubal… Jubal this is my mum Madeline and my dad James”  
  
Jubal stepped towards Maggie's parents and was instantly greeted with a hug from Maggie’s mum, and he smiled hugging her back, and then shook Jame's hand before standing beside Maggie.  
  
“It is nice to finally meet you both”  
  
Madeline smiled “It’s nice to put a face to the voice from this morning”  
  
Maggie looked at Jubal confused “You spoke to my mum this morning?”  
  
Jubal laughed softly “Why don’t we sit down, and I can tell you everything… But first can I get you anything to drink?” Jubal asked looking at Maggie’s family.  
  
Mel looked at Jubal, “If you are okay with it why don’t you let me get the coffee and you can fill my very confused sister in on how we got here” Mel knew that Jubal had moved in with Maggie, so she didn’t want to do anything without checking with him first as this was now his home.  
  
“Make yourself at home Mel, I don’t think too much has been moved from your last visit here with Mags” Jubal smiled really appreciating that Mel checked with him before doing anything, he knew that Maggie had told her they were living together.  
  
James had taken the armchair leaving the couch for Maggie, Jubal and his wife Madeline. Maggie was sitting between Jubal and her mum, and she was trying to let that sink in as she looked at them “So who wants to fill me in on how this all happened?”  
  
“I think that should be Jubal, since, he is the one that put all of this together” Madeline smiled.  
  
“Is this why you and Ian were hiding in that room all morning?” Maggie raised her eyebrow looking at Jubal, her heart rate slowly coming back to normal, she still couldn’t believe this was happening.  
  
“Yes, I had to get him to help me” Jubal laughed softly looking at Maggie “You have been so good to me lately” he didn’t mention the kids as he knew that Maggie hadn’t told them yet, their Christmas cards had arrived this morning but Mel had told her parents and brother not to ring Maggie that they would find out later what was going on as she was the first call that Jubal had made.  
  
“I wanted to do something for you as a thank you and also simply because you deserve it. Ian helped me get Mel’s phone number and I contacted her this morning, told her my plan and asked if she would give me your parent's number so that I could speak to them as well. Unfortunately, it was too late of notice for Jack to get time off work. I know how much you have been missing them and wanted to try to find time to go home, but that it hadn't worked out yet, so, I thought why not bring them to you”.  
  
Maggie couldn’t believe what she was hearing, this man had done all of this for her, she never had anyone do something like this for her. She really had been missing her family, and she wanted to sit down with her parents and tell them all about Jubal and the kids, but work was just not allowing it to happen. She reached over taking Jubal’s hand squeezing it gently tears back in her eyes.  
  
“I can’t believe you did all of this for me, I don’t think there are words strong enough to thank you for bringing my family here. No one has ever done anything like this before, and I don’t know what I have done to deserve you or this, but I am so thankful” Maggie leaned in to steal a quick kiss from Jubal aware that her parents were sitting with them “Wait this is why you've been so quiet since lunchtime?” She chuckled softly.  
  
“Yes” Jubal laughed softly “I wanted it all to go to plan, and I was also a little nervous about getting to meet your parents and meeting Mel in person because I know how much they all mean to you”  
  
Madeline and James had been watching their daughter with her boyfriend, they couldn’t take their eyes off them. They weren’t sure that they would ever see Maggie happy again after seeing how heartbroken she was after the death of Jason but watching her now they realised that she was the happiest they had ever seen her and that she was completely in love with this man. They also knew that this man was completely in love with their daughter.  
  
“Oh dear, you had no reason to be nervous about meeting us” Madeline smiled looking at Jubal “You flew us here to spend time with our daughter, and I've seen her smile more since we've been here than I have over the last 5 years”  
  
Maggie looked at Jubal “You flew them here, you took care of all of that? That’s another thing Ian was helping you with?” Maggie smiled lovingly at Jubal.  
  
“Whose Ian maybe we should thank him too” Mel spoke as she handed everyone out their cups of coffee and sat down the other side of her mum making Maggie move closer to Jubal which was more than okay with Jubal and Maggie.  
  
“He’s one of the analysts that we work with” Maggie laughed softly as she leaned against Jubal lightly feeling his arm wrap around her shoulders.  
  
“Oh using time at work to plan all of this, I like you even more now” Mel joked with Jubal smiling as she watched her sister snuggle into him.  
  
James was smiling watching his two daughters sitting beside their mum, the three most important women in his life all together he was one very happy man, and he knew, it was happening thanks to the man with his arm currently around Maggie. Jack could see that his daughter clearly trusted Jubal, and she didn’t trust easily so that was a big thing, but he needed and wanted to know more about this man.  
  
“Does this mean we can ask now about the Christmas Card that we got?” James looked at Maggie and Jubal while talking.  
  
“You guys got our card and didn’t ring when it arrived?” Maggie looked at her dad.  
  
“Your sister told us we weren't allowed to ring and ask you about it that you would explain it all when we were here”  
  
“So who is Abigail Valentine? And why does Mel know who she is it we don't?” Madeline asked looking at her daughter.  
  
Maggie could feel Jubal tense a little, and his arm had gotten a little tighter around her, she knew that he was worried about this moment and how her parents would react. She was thankful that Mel had told them to wait as she was now getting the chance to tell them to their face. Maggie lay her free hand on Jubal’s hand on her shoulder as she turned to face her parents a little more which meant she was leaning more against Jubal.  
  
“Abby is Jubal’s daughter, she's six, and they made the Christmas Card at school and I asked her if it was okay for me to send some to you guys”  
  
James was a little surprised, “Jubal, you have kids?”  
  
Jubal nodded still nervous “I have two kids, Abby is my youngest and I have a son Tyler he’s 11. They live with their mum, but I see them as much as I can, and they come to stay with me on weekends”.  
  
“I'm guessing that the kids know about you two being together if you sent us the card?” Madeline asked looking at Maggie.  
  
“The kids know, I've met them a few times, and they stayed here with us for the first time at the weekend”  
  
“My kids absolutely adore and love your daughter” Jubal looked at both Madeline and James while talking, he moved leaning over to lift his phone from the coffee table, and he pulled up the picture of Maggie with Tyler and Abby admiring the Christmas lights on Saturday in the City with both holding her hand. He held the phone over to Madeline, but Mel grabbed it first.  
  
“Oh my god, look how adorable you three look…” Mel was almost squealing with excitement, she knew how nervous Jubal was about telling her parents about him having kids, but she had heard the way that Maggie talked about him and the kids, she knew there was nothing to be nervous about.  
  
“You took them to see the Christmas lights?” Madeline looked at the photo before at her daughter and Jubal.  
  
Maggie leaned over to see the photo, and then looked at Jubal “You took a picture of me and the kids?”  
  
“The three of you were having so much fun admiring the lights, the kid's excitement had definitely rubbed off on you and I wanted to hold on that moment” Jubal smiled lovingly at Maggie kissing her temple holding her close to him “And I also think my daughter would have stopped talking to me if I didn’t take a picture of her and her new best friend” He teased playfully.  
  
But James, Madeline and Melissa had clearly heard Jubal’s comment about Maggie being Abby’s new best friend. Madeline wasn’t sure that kids were in her daughter's plans as she had always put the topic off saying she wanted to wait while with Jason, but she had to admit that her daughter looked so happy with Jubal’s kids.  
  
Mel was never one to keep her thoughts to herself which her mother was thankful for right now as she heard Mel ask, “So Maggie and Abby has hit it off?”  
  
“I was being honest when I said, that both my kids adore and love her, last Saturday after the soccer tournament she was the first person that Tyler ran to and Abby had to FaceTime last week when I was spending the day with them because the weekend was too far away. If you swipe back two photos you’ll see Abby and Mags together”.  
  
Maggie could feel Jubal starting to relax now, the more he talked about the kids the more he relaxed, and she could see the smile back on his face as he thought about his kids. But she slapped his arm playfully hearing about another picture “You took another picture without me knowing?”  
  
“Oh my goodness, my heart” Madeline had covered her mouth after speaking just admiring the picture with some tears in her eyes.  
  
Maggie was so confused about her mum's reaction as she looked at Jubal, “What did you take a picture of”.  
  
Before Jubal could answer Mel turned the phone around and had a large smile on her face “It’s you and Abby in bed sleeping”  
  
Maggie reached out taking the phone from Mel and her face lit up seeing the picture, “That was Saturday morning… Abby had a bad dream and came into our bed, and we both slept while Jubal and Tyler made breakfast” Maggie couldn't stop staring at the picture, so she hadn't realised that Jubal and Mel were staring at her as she had slipped up.  
  
“Do you two live together?” James looked at his daughter.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie’s family find out more about her and Jubal

“Hmm... What?” Maggie finally lifted her head from the picture and looked at her dad.  
  
“You just said that Abigail climbed in to ‘Our’ bed, does Jubal live here?” James kept his focus on his daughter while talking.  
  
Jubal had once again gone tense as he wasn’t sure how her parents were going to react, they had just found out that their daughter was dating a man who had kids, and he was sure that this was not how Maggie planned on telling them that they had moved in together. Maggie handed the phone back to Jubal, and she turned to face her mum and dad.  
  
“Definitely not how I was planning on telling you both, but yes I asked Jubal to move in two weekends ago, and he moved in the day after. I wanted to wait until we could be together face to face to tell you about the kids and about us living together. I decided to wait to tell you both not Jubal”.  
  
James didn’t say anything he sat looking at his daughter and Jubal, he was a retired cop, so he could make sure that his expression gave away nothing which had Jubal extremely nervous. He knew how close Maggie was to her dad, he was the reason that she had become a cop in the first place, so the last thing he wanted was her father not to approve of them being together. Finally, James gave in and smiled looking at them both  
  
“I’m not angry sweetheart, I am happy for you both. Your mother is right you have smiled more in the last couple of hours than you have in the whole last five years. Just you know maybe give us a little bit more warning before getting married”.  
  
“DAD…” Maggie couldn't help the blush that appeared on her cheeks hearing her dads words which just had Mel laughing hard “Oh great help Mel thanks…” She rolled her eyes playfully.  
  
“You two aren’t going to turn around and surprise us during this visit and tell us you are already married are you?” Madeline raised her eyebrow looking at her daughter causing Maggie to groan hiding her face in her hoodie.  
  
“Don't worry Mr and Mrs Bell you will be the first to know when we get engaged” Jubal spoke with no hesitation whatsoever.  
  
Maggie froze hearing Jubal’s words, she was sure that all everyone could hear was her heart beating, she noticed straight away there was no hesitation from Jubal and it wasn’t ‘if’ they get engaged it was ‘when’ they get engaged. Yup this man really could surprise her more than anyone else. James smiled looking at Jubal.   
  
“Please, you can call us James and Madeline, our daughter is clearly in love with you and you make her very happy so no, need for the Mr and Mrs” But James did admire how much respect that Jubal was showing to him and his wife.  
  
“Is this how you felt when I met Jen?” Maggie pulled Jubal's hoodie that she was wearing down from her face a little looking at Jubal.  
  
Jubal laughed kissing Maggie's temple “A little bit yes, but you two ganged up on me so, it was a little different” He joked with her playfully  
  
“Who’s Jen?” Madeline asked unable to take her eyes off the happy couple sitting at the end of the couch, and she noticed just how close they were sitting.  
  
“My sister. Maggie met her a couple of months ago as she lives here in the City” He smiled softly at Madeline.  
  
“Yeah same week Mags met his kids and ex-wife” Mel smirked when she heard Maggie groan  
  
“Yeah, so I maybe should have spaced that all out a little better” Jubal laughed, “Don’t forget you finding out was that same weekend” he spoke looking at Mel  
  
“Nothing an FBI agent can’t handle” James smiled and Jubal noticed how proud he was saying that his daughter was an FBI agent  
  
“Oh, how did your disclosure go?” Mel asked and then covered her mouth, “Oops sorry”.  
  
Maggie rolled her eyes, “Oh smooth Mel thanks…. You trying to give mum and dad a heart attack”.  
  
“Why would you have to disclose you aren’t partners at work?” James may not have been an FBI agent, but he knew procedures from being a Cop.  
  
“We aren’t, OA is still my partner... Jubal is kind of my boss at work”.  
  
“What do you mean kind of?” James raised an eyebrow looking at his daughter.  
  
Jubal and Mel wanted to jump in and help out, but they both had to admit that they couldn’t resist watching this as Maggie was squirming a little under her dad's questions, it was reminding her mother of when Maggie was a teenager  
  
“Well Jubal is who I report to when I'm out in the field, he’s the Assistant Agent in Charge, but we are also overseen by his boss Isobel. Jubal runs everything though, from the JOC, he’s who we are on coms to at all times”.  
  
“You are following protocol and have done what you two need for work?” James may be retired, but he would never actually stop being a cop in nature.  
  
“Yes dad, we disclosed to Isobel a few weeks ago and filled out all the paperwork. Don’t worry we were already warned by Jubal’s sister, she’s a lawyer.”  
  
“Do the people that you work with know, your partner OA?” Madeleine looked at Maggie while talking.  
  
“No... We have both agreed that we want to wait until we tell the team, we don’t want things to get weird for them at work when they find out. Isobel knows and Ian that helped Jubal planning all this knows, but they are the only ones at work”.  
  
“Are you sure that you work with the best team?” James looked at his daughter.  
  
“Yes, Dad... “ Maggie laughed “We are careful at work, so they would have no reason to think that anything is going on with Jubal and me”  
  
“Other than the way you two look at each other you mean” Madeline wasn’t sure she had meant to say those words out loud, but it was too late to take them back  
  
“See? I told you that I wasn’t the only one that saw that you two just look at each other with those ‘in love’ eyes” Mel smirked at her older sister.  
  
“Okay there is seriously no such thing as ‘in love’ eyes” Maggie shook her head laughing  
  
“Your sister is right though sweetheart, it’s very obvious that you two are in love when you look at each other, and you haven't taken your hands off each other from you sat down”  
  
“Okay bedtime” Maggie stood up blushing a little and squealed laughing when Jubal pulled on her hand making her land on his lap which just made Mel laugh  
  
“I'm afraid you have to stay and listen to this” Jubal smirked playfully looking at Maggie  
  
“You are supposed to be on my side” Maggie tried to frown at him but it was impossible  
  
“Oh I am, but remember I've had you and my sister gang up on me on two separate nights and I'm the one that talked to Isobel and Ian about us” Jubal couldn’t help the smirk which turned in to a laugh when he heard Maggie groan and gave in relaxing in his arms.  
  
Mel, Madeline and James really couldn't stop watching the couple, they had never seen Maggie be so openly affectionate with anyone. It showed them how much she clearly not only trusted Jubal but was completely in love with him.  
  
“Will we get the chance to meet your lovely kids before we have to leave?” Madeline had wanted to ask that from the minute that Jubal mentioned his kids, she wanted to see Maggie with them with her own eyes.  
  
“Mum, I'm not sure that will be possible with such short notice they have things on with Christmas so close” Maggie knew that it would likely cause some tension with Sam, and she didn’t want Jubal to feel like he had to bring the kids to meet her family, she didn’t want him to feel rushed or forced into anything.  
  
Jubal knew that Maggie was giving him an out in case he didn’t want them to meet the kids, “Actually, I can bring the kids back here tomorrow after their Christmas Concert, the school said that we can take them home, and their mum has to go back to work, and I'm sure the kids would love to come to hang out with Maggie”.  
  
Maggie was surprised with Jubal wanting to bring the kids to meet her family, she looked at him to make sure that he wasn’t having any doubts, and she could see that he was confident, and that it was something that he wanted to do.  
  
“If I can get away from work I am going to the concert with you, I told them that I would try to be there”  
  
“Mags, your family is here you should spend the time with them and Isobel has given you the next two days off work. So, you have all the time to spend with your family”.  
  
“You got Isobel to give me time off?” Here he was surprising her once again.  
  
“I thought that you would want as much time as possible with your family and when I told her why I was asking she agreed straight away” Jubal wasn’t sure if Maggie would be mad or not about him going behind her back to ask for time off, but he got his answer when he felt her lips press against his in a soft sweet kiss.  
  
“Did your kids ask Maggie to attend the concert?” Madeline didn’t want to invade on the private conversation, but it wasn’t like they couldn’t hear and see what was going on.  
  
“They did, but I told them with work that we weren’t sure if we both could get the time off. My kids know that Mags and I work together”.  
  
“You should go to the concert” James jumped in before Madeline  
  
“Your father is right dear, we can go into the city for a walk while you both are at the concert and then be back here to meet the kids”  
  
“Are you sure? I don’t want to take any time away from you all being together” Jubal looked at Maggie and her parents.  
  
“Babe, you keep telling me that I am part of your family, well you are part of mine and so are those two adorable kids. I want to be there tomorrow to see them, it’s only a couple of hours”.  
  
“Then I guess we both will be bringing the kids back here to meet you all” Jubal had such a large smile on his face, he really could get used to being a part of this family, they had all jumped in to say that Maggie being with the kids was more important than her getting an extra couple hours with them.  
  
“Will your kids be okay meeting us, I know you both have said that your team hasn't met them or anything” Mel knew that Maggie had said a few times about how private he was with the kids  
  
“I have tried to keep my work and personal life as separate as possible…”  
  
“Until you blurred that line by dating my daughter…” James laughed clearly teasing Jubal.  
  
Maggie rolled her eyes shaking her head as Jubal laughed, “Yeah things really changed when that happened. But the kids still haven't met the team, but you are Maggie’s family, we've spoken to them about you all when getting the cards from Abby. They may be a little shy, to begin with”.  
  
Maggie smiled wrapping her arm around Jubal's neck, leaning against him as she looked at her parents and Mel, “Just be patient with them, and they will come around, don’t ask too many questions” she looked at her mum and Mel in particular when saying that  
  
Mel smiled, “Tyler loves soccer at the minute though right? That’s who you got our old file for?”  
  
Maggie nodded “He does, he’s getting really good at it, and he’s enjoying it so much. He will love having two more adults to talk to about it” she looked at her dad and Mel.  
  
“We promise not to be too full-on with them” Madeline smiled  
  
Jubal was about to speak when his phone rang “I'm so sorry, I thought I put that on silent” he lifted his phone seeing Sam’s number  
  
“Go take it that might be the kids” Maggie stood up while talking so that Jubal could move as he walked down the hallway, and Maggie sat down where he had been sitting watching him walk away.  
  
Madeline was watching her daughter watching her boyfriend “You really are so happy with Jubal?”  
  
Maggie lay her head against the back of the couch “I really am mum. I'm so sorry that I didn’t tell you guys more about Jubal, about the kids and about us moving in together”.  
  
“It’s okay sweetheart, we do understand and appreciate that you wanted to try to tell us to our face. But he seems like a good guy, he definitely loves you” James smiled at his daughter “He seems good to you”.  
  
“Oh dad he adores her, she is as important to him as his kids” Mel looked at her parents “You know Mags and I don’t hide anything, but I knew that you would both approve of him. I told you both that you would see she has changed”.  
  
“I'm hoping you mean changed in a good way?” Maggie looked at her sister.  
  
“You are happy, smiling, full of love, hanging out with his kids and planning a Christmas with him. You seem in such a good place Maggie, and we are so happy for you, this is all we have ever wanted for you” Madeline lay her hand on top of Maggie's.  
  
“And he knows I'm a retired cop, and your brother is a cop right? You know just in case he thinks of ever hurting you? But as a father of a daughter himself, I don’t think he will”.  
  
Maggie shook her head laughing “He is aware Dad, and he also knows that our team would kill either of us if we hurt each other intentionally. But neither of us wants to let that happen”.  
  
“I noticed no hesitation from him at the mention of marriage” Mel couldn’t help smirking as she teased her sister.  
  
Maggie was so thankful when Jubal interrupted them “Sorry for interrupting, baby I have a very nervous six-year-old who wants to hear from you that you are going to be at her concert tomorrow”.  
  
Madeline put her hands over her heart hearing Jubal, he wasn’t joking his kids really did adore her daughter, maybe Maggie having her own kids was something that was back on the table. Maggie excused herself and went down the hallway to talk to Abby on the phone with Madeline and Mel trying to hear what she was saying even if James repeatedly told them to stop.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie and Jubal have breakfast with her family and head to the kid’s school

Maggie and Jubal had spent some more time with her family before calling it a night, she was thankful that they had the bed made up in the spare room, and she noticed that Jubal had changed the bedding on one of the single beds in the kid's room for Mel who was more than happy to sleep there as she had offered to sleep on the couch. Maggie and Jubal had woken first the next morning and had gone downstairs to make breakfast together for all five of them. Madeline had woken before her husband and got up making her way to the kitchen and found Melissa standing in the living room hiding behind the wall.  
  
“Mel, what you are doing?”  
  
Mel shushed her mother quickly and gently pulled her closer to her “You will want to see this mum I promise”.  
  
Madeline was confused as to what could be so interesting in Maggie’s kitchen that had her youngest daughter hiding and telling her to be quiet, so they could continue to watch, but the minute her eyes landed on the kitchen she was thankful that Mel had pulled her in to watch this.  
  
The sight before them was Jubal standing behind Maggie with his hands resting on her hips kissing her cheek and neck while Maggie was cooking, and she had such a large smile on her face as she was leaning back against his chest. Madeline felt tears in her eyes getting to see this moment, it was obvious just how much these two loved each other, and she noticed that Jubal always liked to have contact with her daughter. Even when he leaned over to start up the coffee machine he had kept his free hand on Maggie’s hip. Jubal leaned over her shoulder and stole a piece of bacon which caused Maggie to slap his arm playfully but Jubal just spun her around to face him and leaned in kissing her deeply.  
  
That was when Madeline and Mel both stepped back into the hallway to give the couple a moment alone and Madeline looked at her daughter.  
  
“Have they been like this from they started dating?”  
  
Mel nodded “I could tell that Mags was different, she was happier and was actually looking time off work and I noticed that she had been talking about Jubal a lot more than usual, but she hadn’t even realised. When she finally was able to FaceTime me to tell me what was going on Jubal was actually here with her, so I got to briefly meet him as well. His face lights up when he talks about her”.   
  
Madeline wiped her eyes gently as some tears were escaping “All I've ever wanted is for you, Maggie and your brother to be happy in life, but I don't think I’ve ever seen anyone be in love with Maggie as much as Jubal is. And his ex-wife that’s not something to worry about?”  
  
Mel shook her head, “No, she’s living with another man, but Jubal has no feelings for her like that. Maggie is the first person that he has brought to meet the kids and to meet his ex-wife, I don’t think Mags realises that for Jubal it’s her or nothing”.  
  
Madeline was glad to hear from Mel that Jubal’s ex-wife was not something to worry about, she wanted to make sure her daughter’s heart would be protected because she wasn’t sure Maggie could ever handle the heartache of losing Jubal  
  
“You think your sister realises that for her it’s him or nothing? The way she talks about his kids, I had given up on the idea of Maggie having her own family, but now I'm not so sure about that”.  
  
“I haven't seen her with his kids, but I have heard them both talk about her time with his kids and it sounds as adorable as those photos looked... I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing her with them later” Mel smiled.  
  
“Let’s join them, the smell of food has me hungry and I think we’ve given them long enough to themselves” Madeline chuckled as she and Mel made their way into the living room, and towards the kitchen, “Good morning you two”  
  
Mel couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face as neither Maggie nor Jubal pulled away from each other when they saw her and her mum. Jubal had his hand on Maggie’s hip as he was leaning over to lift some cups for coffee. Maggie smiled seeing her mom and sister.  
  
“Morning, you two are just in time breakfast is almost ready”  
  
“Is there anything that we can do to help?” Madeline asked looking at them both.  
  
Jubal shook his head, “Just take a seat we have everything taken care of”  
  
“Will dad be joining us or do I need to keep him some food warm?” Maggie looked at her mum briefly before back at the food.  
  
“Dad is right here… And usually the first one up so this is new” James spoke while making his way to the kitchen table.  
  
“We are used to getting up early either for work or the kids at stupid o'clock as your daughter calls it” Jubal pulled a face looking at Maggie who nudged his hip with hers  
  
“You had me up at 7 am on our first Saturday off in months to go to a soccer tournament”  
  
“You know that might work better if you weren’t smiling so much” Mel teased her sister watching her and Jubal move around the kitchen now plating up breakfast  
  
“And if she hadn’t spent the day smiling and laughing with Abby and Tyler. It’s good I'm not insecure or I would really start to think they liked Maggie more than me” Jubal teased playfully, he was so thankful that things were so easy with Mel. Madeline and James was sitting at the kitchen table having their own conversation, and it made Jubal think about what he and Maggie would be like at their age.  
  
“Hey, you won’t be laughing so much later when you meet them and realise that you can’t resist how adorable they are either” Maggie looked at her sister joking with her playfully.  
  
They all sat down at the kitchen table having breakfast together and Maggie, and Jubal both insisted that they would clean up as James, Madeline and Mel were their guests. They all headed off to get ready for the day and when Jubal and Maggie were ready to go to the kid's concert they came back down to the living room, Maggie smiled seeing her family pulling their coats on.  
  
“Have fun in the City, and we will text you when on our way home so that you guys have an idea when to expect us, but there is no rush take your time and enjoy yourselves” Maggie smiled hugging her family as they all left the apartment at the same time with her family heading into the city, and Jubal, and Maggie getting into Jubal’s car.  
  
They travelled the first few minutes in comfortable silence before Maggie reached over and lay her hand on Jubal’s leg “Thank you so much for bringing my family here babe, I still can’t believe that you went to all this trouble for me”.  
  
“It was really no trouble and you deserve it baby, we have had a couple of rough months at work and I know you were really missing them and I told you that I would always do what I could to see you happy and I meant it” He lay his hand on Maggie’s while talking to her  
  
“You are too good to me and who knew that Jubal Valentine was such a romantic” She smirked as she lifted his hand kissing it before resting their intertwined hands on his thigh.  
  
“Ian had a little too much fun with that knowledge”  
  
“I can’t believe you got him to help you”  
  
“I needed to get Mel’s number, and then get all three of them on the same flight, and it had to be the next flight here. So who better to ask than Ian, and he knows about us, so as much fun as he had teasing me about it all he was more than happy to help out”.  
  
“You even went to the bother of getting me the time off work with Isobel... You thought about everything.” Maggie had turned her head to face him while talking.  
  
“I wasn't sure if you would be pissed or not about me going behind your back to Isobel but I wanted you to have as much time with your parents and Mel before they have to head back”  
  
“I think if it had been anyone but you, I would have been so pissed and killed them, but with you, I find it really sweet that you went to so much bother to make all of this happen and on top of that deal with nerves about meeting my parents on your own since I had no idea they were on their way”  
  
“Any nerves that I had about meeting your parents were totally worth it the minute I saw your reaction and your parents reaction. I realised that they have missed you as much as you have missed them. So how do you think it went? Meeting your parents, I mean”.   
  
Maggie squeezed Jubal’s hand gently caressing it with her thumb, “That is the smoothest it has ever gone with someone meeting my parents, not that there has been many. But to hear my dad joking with you that was a sign to us that he was comfortable around you, you had already won over Mel and I think it’s safe to say that you have won over my mum as well. I'm sorry that they are such huggers” she laughed softly.  
  
“I will admit it caught me off guard when your mum hugged me yesterday evening, but it did help settle a few nerves when she did. You know I just want them to see that I love their daughter more than anything and will do whatever I can to make sure she has the best life possible”.  
  
“Oh babe, trust me they are aware of how much you love me, my dad said that he can tell that you are good to me and good for me. Those aren’t things that he just says lightly and mum keeps talking about how much we love each other. You meeting my parents went even better than I had imagined, I knew they would love you though.”  
  
“I wasn’t sure how they were going to react when we told them about Abby and Tyler but I think that it went well, considering they want to meet the kids today” Jubal glanced at Maggie before back at the road.  
  
“It went really well… although we need to talk about you taking pictures of me when I'm not aware” She joked playfully “And remind me to send those photos from your phone to mine later, I need to have those on my phone. You know you didn’t have to agree to bring the kids to meet them, I know how protective you are of them and my family would have understood that”.  
  
“Baby, there wasn’t even a second of doubt in my head when your mum asked me if she could meet them my answer was an immediate yes. I love that your family want to meet them, and I know you had given me an out if I needed it but no part of me wanted to take it. They are your family, so I trust them around the kids”.  
  
“You know that my mum and Mel aren’t going to want to let Abby go home and Dad will talk to Tyler so much about soccer and anything that Tyler feels comfortable talking about... But you do know that there was no way that I was missing today, I know I only have a few days with my family but the kids are family too, and they both asked me to come today with you so there was no way that I was missing this for anything not even time with my parents. I meant it when I told you that I love the kids”.  
  
Jubal squeezed Maggie’s hand gently and was thankful that they had pulled in to the kid's school as he was able to turn now to face Maggie after parking the car “You know your family jumped in straight away to say that you had to come today showed me that I had made the right decision about bringing the kids to meet them. They were putting the kids first, and they hadn’t even met them yet, that is the family that I want Abby and Tyler to be around”.  
  
Maggie lifted her hand caressing Jubal’s cheek gently “Welcome to being part of the Bell family babe, we put family before everything and you and the kids are now a part of that family. They can be embarrassing and full-on at times” She pulled a face laughing, “But they will protect and love with everything, they have and now means you, Abby and Tyler. I will keep reminding you every single day, but you Jubal Valentine are a huge part of my life and my family”.  
  
Jubal closed the distance as he leaned in kissing Maggie slowly but with so much love, and passion running his fingers through her hair slowly as he tried to put all his love into the kiss wanting her to feel just how much he loved her.  
  
Maggie broke the kiss because she had to and not because she wanted to which was the reason that she was placing small kisses to his lips as she spoke, “Come on let’s go, I’d rather not get caught making out in the car park at the kid's school” She chuckled softly before pulling back and climbing out of the SUV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you guys are enjoying reading this, seeing the kudos helps motivate me to write the next chapter. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my work, I really do appreciate it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie gets to meet the parents of Tyler’s best friend, but will everyone be happy to see Maggie there?

A few parents had spoken to Jubal as he and Maggie made their way inside, they were parents of Abby and Tyler’s friends. Maggie had felt Jubal’s hand slide into hers as the parents came over to him saying hi, and that it was good to see him. One of the mums smiled looking at Jubal and Maggie.  
  
“You must be Maggie?”  
  
Maggie smiled shaking the woman's offered hand “I am, it’s nice to meet you”.  
  
The woman smiled “I'm Gina, Tyler is best friends with my son Brandon I believe it’s you I have to thank for the boys fun soccer drills?”  
  
“Tyler did tell me he and Brandon had been using them, I'm glad to hear they are having fun”  
  
“They are loving it, this is the first sport my son has shown any interest in so thank you. Tyler had been talking about you a lot so I hope you both don’t mind that I asked him who you were?”  
  
Jubal shook his head smiling “We don’t mind at all Gina, with how often Tyler is at your house I can understand you wanting to know” Both Maggie and Jubal really appreciated that Gina was being so respectful of their privacy as they could feel some mums standing with Sam staring at them.  
  
“Both boys have been telling their friends that an FBI agent is helping them train” Gina laughed softly “So, I thought you two worked together until Tyler told us that you were living together… And just ignore the other mums staring at you both, some of them are just jealous that you took Jubal off the Market” Gina winked playfully at Maggie which just made Maggie laugh, a real proper laugh.  
  
“I thought that they might have just been staring since I'm new”  
  
“I mean they do they like to gossip” Gina rolled her eyes, “but they are all single mums except for Samantha so, you've just ruined their dreams by having this one fall in love with you”  
  
Jubal laughed shaking his head “I forgot how much fun it was talking to you Gina”  
  
“You mean you have missed my brutal honesty and that I don’t have a lot of time for your ex-wife?” Gina raised her eyebrow playfully.  
  
“Yeah, that might be part of it” He chuckled, “Is Dan going to make it today?” Jubal had always had a lot of time for Gina and Dan, especially with how much time Tyler spent with their son Brandon.  
  
“He’s saving us seats, Tyler had mentioned that you were hoping to bring Maggie, so I was keeping an eye out for you arriving, especially with the gossiping teenagers over there” she nodded her head at the group of women not caring that they could clearly see her.  
  
“Thank you, Gina, I really appreciate that… I'm not here to cause any issues” Maggie smiled softly as she really did appreciate that she had someone looking out for them.  
  
“Oh trust me we knew that Jubal wouldn’t introduce the kids to someone who wasn’t kind and hell we have been trying to convince him to settle down for years. I guess now we know why he didn't” She smirked playfully but clearly, Gina thought a lot of Jubal, “Come on Dan is waiting to meet the woman that finally got Jubal into a relationship”.  
  
“You make it sound like I had a phobia of relationships” Jubal shook his head laughing as he and Maggie followed Gina, he had kept Maggie’s hand in his. This was the first time that he had brought anyone to an event for the kids, so he knew that people that knew him or Sam was staring at them.  
  
“Can you really blame me for thinking that?” Gina looked at Jubal over her shoulder.  
  
“My wife being extremely honest again?” Dan looked at Jubal as he stood up and shook hands with Jubal “It’s good to see you Jubal, it’s been a while.”  
  
Jubal smiled as he shook Dan’s hand “Isn’t your wife always brutally honest?” He laughed softly “It’s good to see you too Dan, I'd like you to meet Maggie”.  
  
“I'm going to need you to say the words man, come on” Dan teased playfully  
  
Jubal rolled his eyes laughing “You two really are perfect for each other” He joked playfully but it was actually true, Dan and Gina really were perfect for each other, “Maggie this is Dan, Dan this is Maggie, my girlfriend”  
  
“See now was that so hard?” Dan smirked as he stepped closer and hugged Maggie “It’s nice to meet you Maggie, it’s good to see this guy finally smiling”.  
  
Maggie was enjoying watching Dan and Jubal, clearly this couple thought a lot of Jubal and were friends with him. She hugged Dan back but felt how Jubal kept a hold of her hand, but she was okay with that.  
  
“It’s nice to meet you Dan and thank you for saving us seats. I can confirm that he does, in fact, smile and a lot more when the kids are around him” She nudged Jubal’s hip gently as the four adults took their seats with Maggie sitting beside Gina with Jubal beside her and Dan beside his wife.  
  
“We knew that if you were going to make it that certain people would feel like they had the reason to talk about Jubal’s private life. So, we didn’t want them scaring you off at your first event, although I'm not sure they could actually scare an FBI agent” Dan had leaned over to talk to Maggie and Jubal.  
  
“It would take a lot more than grown women acting like teenagers to scare me off... If Jubal and the kids want me here then it’s exactly where I’ll be” Maggie squeezed Jubal’s hand gently running her thumb over his hand as she could tell he was feeling a little uncomfortable with the women with Sam still staring at them.  
  
“I already love you” Gina laughed looking at Maggie, “And I'm glad that you won’t let them scare you away because Tyler really has talked a lot about you”  
  
Maggie looked at Jubal and nudged his shoulder gently with hers as Dan and Gina talked among themselves to give Jubal and Maggie a minute alone “You doing okay babe?”  
  
Jubal looked at Maggie resting his free hand on her knee “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that since its friends of my ex-wife that haven’t stopped staring at you since we walked in here?”  
  
“I think you’ll find that they are just staring at how handsome my man is” Maggie smiled resting her chin on his shoulder looking at him, she wasn’t one for public affection, but she could feel Jubal relaxing, and he deserved to enjoy his kid’s Christmas Concert.  
  
“Have I told you today how much I love you?” Jubal leaned in kissing Maggie softly.  
  
“Hmm maybe... but I’ll never get tired of hearing it” She smiled running her free hand along his arm “You know you might have just made their heads explode kissing me in front of people”  
  
“Yeah? Don't worry I'm sure that Gina and Dan will be able to tell us their reaction to it” Jubal smirked as he stole another quick kiss from Maggie before moving closer to her so that she could rest against him a little.  
  
“You two have just made this day even better” Gina smirked “I swear that I've never seen them so shocked and so quiet”  
  
Maggie laughed resting against Jubal’s side as he let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple before he looked at Gina “I'm glad that we could help with that” he chuckled before facing the front as they announced that the concert was about to start for everyone to take their seats.  
  
Jubal kept his arm around Maggie the entire time, running his hand along her arm slowly at times. His face lit up when Abby’s class came on to the stage, and she spotted her dad straight away waving down at him with such a large smile on her face. At that moment both Maggie and Jubal knew that feeling Sam and her friends staring at them was totally worth it to get to see Abby so happy.  
  
“Abby really is a daddy’s girl huh?” Gina spoke quietly to Maggie as they waited for the next class.  
  
“Yeah until Mags came along and now she is Abby’s favourite” Jubal smirked playfully, but he couldn’t shake the smile from his face. Maggie shook her head laughing telling them both to ssh as the next class took to the stage which just made Jubal and Gina laugh.  
  
Jubal was surprised when Tyler’s class took to the stage that he waved down at him, his son was usually too shy to do anything like that. It only took Jubal a second before waving back at him with a large smile on his face. It was making Maggie's heart so full of love seeing how happy Tyler and Jubal was seeing each other. Maggie noticed the boy standing beside Tyler waving in their direction and seen the large smile on Gina’s face as she waved back at him.  
  
“That’s Brandon… He looks a lot like his dad” Maggie spoke quietly to Gina.  
  
“Thankfully he got his dad’s looks and my personality” Gina laughed but with so much pride in her eyes as she talked about her son.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids find Maggie and Jubal after the concert and tell them their plans for the evening, but will Sam be okay with the plans?

When the concert was over a teacher came onto the stage to tell parents that if they stayed in the large hall, they were currently in that the kids would be joining them in a few minutes to go home. Maggie felt Jubal remove his arm from around her as she stood up, but he held his hands out to her which she took straight away and smiled when he kept one of her hands in his entangling their fingers as Gina and Dan stood up to join them. They all moved from their seats to stand out to the side to where they had more room, Jubal kept Maggie as close to him as possible.  
  
“Can I just shout over and tell them to stop staring already, God we are not back in high school” Gina rolled her eyes as Sam and the few friends had gathered in a huddle again making it obvious that they were watching Maggie, Jubal, Dan and Gina.  
  
“You know I think part of them would love for you do that... It’s much better to just ignore them” Maggie smiled softly squeezing Jubal’s hand gently.  
  
“I wish I could say that it surprises me but Sam hasn’t exactly been supportive of my relationship with Maggie”  
  
“Hey man that’s just because she can see how happy that you are and hates that it’s someone else making you that happy…Doesn’t help her that Alan didn’t show up today yet an FBI agent could get time off to come” Dan was always one to speak to the truth.  
  
“I think I love you even more now” Gina joked kissing her husbands cheek  
  
“I see Gina’s honesty is rubbing off on you a little there Dan” Jubal laughed shaking his head, he was so thankful to have Gina and Dan standing with them. “If she’s acting badly now wait until she finds out where I'm taking the kids after”  
  
“Oh see now you have to tell me” Gina raised an eyebrow  
  
“We are taking the kids to meet Maggie’s family who is in town for a couple of days”  
  
“Who is only in town because he surprised me by flying them here yesterday evening” Maggie smiled looking at Jubal  
  
“That is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard… Dan take notes” Gina nudged her husband playfully “And I'm calling front row for you telling Sam”.  
  
Jubal was about to reply when he heard Abby shouting ‘Daddy’, he turned his head to see her coming running towards him, Sam had called Abby’s name, but she ran past her mum straight to her Dad. Jubal smiled hunkering down to lift Abby into his arms.  
  
“Hey baby girl” He hugged Abby as he stood up straight standing close to Maggie  
  
“Hi Daddy” Abby smiled brightly hugging her dad, she then reached out one arm pulling Maggie into a hug with her and her dad, “Hi Mags”  
  
Maggie chuckled as she was being squished into the hug by Abby, “Hey Abby… You were so good up there” Maggie smiled when Abby let go, but she stood close to Jubal as they both looked at Abby.  
  
“You and Daddy made it, just like you promised last night” Abby was so full of joy which was just making Jubal smile so much  
  
“I told you that Mags and I don’t break our promises” He smiled kissing her cheek, “I think mummy wants you baby girl” He nodded over at Sam who was staring at them  
  
Abby tightened her arms around her dad's neck “I want to go home with you”  
  
“You are, Maggie and I are taking you and Tyler with us... But go and say goodbye to mummy before she has to go back to work” Jubal sat Abby down on her feet.  
  
“You want me to hold on to your bag until you come back over?” Maggie hunkered down in front of Abby to be the same height as her.  
  
“You’ll hold on tight to my bag?” Abby took her bag off holding it in front of her.  
  
“Don’t worry I’ll make sure that Sparkles is safe” Maggie spoke quietly to Abby knowing that Abby had her unicorn teddy in her bag as she took it when going to spend time with her Dad in case she got tired in the car or at his house.  
  
Abby threw her arms around Maggie’s neck hugging her tight “Thank you Mag’s” She handed her bag to Maggie.  
  
“Go say bye-bye to your mummy… Me, Daddy and Sparkles will be right here waiting” Maggie ran her hand over Abby’s hair and smiled standing up straight as the young girl ran over to her mum.  
  
When Maggie stood up straight Jubal wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek “Thank you for being so patient with Abby and getting her to go say bye to her mum… Do you want me to hold the bag?”  
  
“You never have to thank me for that babe, you know that I love Abby” She smiled leaning into Jubal a little, “I told Abby I would look after Sparkles, so I’ll hold on to it”  
  
Jubal wasn’t sure he could love Maggie anymore than in this moment, he knew she was nervous at the start about being around his kids, but she was such a natural with both Tyler and Abby. The way that she was so patient with Abby and happily agreed to protect a cuddly toy like it was the most important thing in the world.  
  
Gina couldn’t help but watch the interaction between Maggie and Abby “I can see why Jubal was worried you were Abby’s favourite you are so good with her... She’s usually so quiet when we are around”.  
  
“She’s an amazing kid” Maggie had such a large smile on her face talking about Abby, “Impossible not to love her”  
  
“Yeah she had Mags quicker than I did” Jubal joked playfully  
  
“I may have wanted to take a picture of Samantha and her loyal idiots as they stood watching you two with Abby... You know part of their problem is they have no reason to hate you, anything I've seen today has been nothing but respectful from you towards Samantha... And that can’t be an easy thing when she clearly isn’t showing the same back” Gina may have started out joking, but by the end, she was being serious.  
  
“She’s Abby’s and Tyler’s mum I will always respect that, I mean I may not understand it since you know she is living with Alan and has been with him for years so, it’s not like I took Jubal from her” Maggie shrugged, “But I’ll always show her respect for the kid's sake and Jubal’s”  
  
“Until you came along Samantha was convinced that Jubal would never bring anyone else around the kids... Now she can see him setting up a life with you and that he and the kids adore and love you... But you two seem strong enough to withstand anything” Dan wasn’t always one to be so genuine, but he felt that Jubal needed to hear it.  
  
“Thanks, Dan, I appreciate that… and Mags will tell you that I have asked several times why she hasn’t run yet” Jubal laughed softly kissing Maggie’s temple holding her close to him “But for whatever reason, she has decided to stick around and I'm not letting anything or anyone screw that up”  
  
“I think the reason is called Love” Gina smiled honestly  
  
“Gina is right... And I’ll keep reminding you every single day if I have to that no matter how hard this might get I'm not going anywhere” Maggie smiled stealing a quick kiss from Jubal before feeling arms wrap around her legs, and she chuckled softly looking at Jubal, “Hey babe, I think Sparkles might have grown, crawled out of the bag and is wrapped around my legs”.  
  
Jubal couldn’t shake the smile on his face as the sound of Abby giggling was filling his ears, yeah no matter what happened he was never giving up on Maggie she was his future. Abby pulled her head back from Maggie’s legs looking up at her.  
  
“It’s not sparkles” Abby was now giggling so hard “Guess…”  
  
“Hmm, it’s not sparkles, can talk and really likes giggles… I can’t think of anyone that it could be” Maggie was smiling, she didn’t think she could ever be this silly but Abby brought it out of her every time they were together. Maggie reached her hand down and started tickling Abby making her laugh even more and squeal, ‘daddy help’ “Oh calling you daddy? That means it has to be Abby”.  
  
“Yes” Abby laughed as she was trying to escape Maggie’s tickles while laughing so much before Maggie lifted her into her arms and Abby wrapped her arms around Maggie’s neck “It was me”  
  
If someone were to ask him right now there was no way that Jubal Valentine would be able to find the words to explain just how much he loved the woman holding his daughter. To see Abby laughing, smiling, so full of joy, and it is because of Maggie, that was something that was making it hard for him to keep his emotions together. He had no idea what he had done to deserve this life, but he was so dam thankful for it.  
  
Maggie could feel Jubal’s arm tighten around her waist, and she looked at him about to ask was everything okay when she heard Sam’s voice.  
  
“You can take the kids back to mine and stay for dinner and put them to bed tonight if you want... If you can be apart from your girlfriend that long” Sam looked at Jubal while talking.  
  
Maggie could see Gina’s jaw tightening out of the corner of her eye, and Jubal now almost had a grip of Maggie’s shirt at her side as he looked at Sam.  
  
“I'm going to take the kids with me to ours, Maggie’s family are in town and want to meet Abby and Tyler”  
  
“And when were you going to ask me?” Sam was keeping her voice low not to draw attention!  
  
“I don’t need your permission to take the kids to my home Sam and I'm not introducing them to just random strangers”  
  
“Have you even bothered to ask the kids if it’s what they want? You know how shy they both can get” Sam was smirking as she was convinced that her daughter would find it too much.  
  
Abby didn’t really understand what was going on she was too young, she looked at Maggie when she heard about her family, “Is your house full of people?”  
  
Maggie shook her head “No sweetheart, it's just my parents and sister... But if you don't want to meet them you don't have to, I promise that nobody will be mad if you say no”.  
  
“You and daddy will be there the whole time?” Abby looked at Maggie and her dad.  
  
Jubal nodded smiling “We will baby girl, like Mags said if it’s too much then, we can change things and you will still get to hang out with me”  
  
“They want to meet me and Tyler?”  
  
Maggie smiled “They do, they want to meet the person that created their favourite Christmas Card”.  
  
Abby titled her head to the side as if thinking about her answer, and then smiled “I'm okay with meeting them” She lay her head on Maggie’s shoulder as Gina had to put her hand over her mouth to hide her laugh.  
  
Tyler came over at the end of the conversation and stood by his dad who had wrapped his arm around his shoulder, “Who are we meeting?”  
  
“Your dad wants to take you to meet Maggie’s family... But you just say the word Sweetheart, and you don't have to go. Dad can take you and Abby home to ours until I get home from work” Sam was facing Tyler focusing on him as she spoke.  
  
Tyler looked at Jubal listening to his dad speak “Your mom is right buddy, there is no pressure you don't have to meet them”  
  
“I'm okay with meeting them... I want to thank Maggie’s sister for giving us their soccer file” Tyler smiled as he looked at his mom, “Can we stay with Dad tonight? We don't have school tomorrow”  
  
“I'm sure that your dad has work tomorrow, so won’t be able to look after you”  
  
Jubal looked at Maggie to make sure that she was okay with what he was about to suggest, she knew him well enough to know what he was thinking. It was like Jen had said when she first met Maggie, they could have a conversation with their eyes and not say a word. Jubal turned his head to look at Sam.  
  
“I only have to go in tomorrow if I get called in and even if I do Mag’s is off and will be happy for the kids to hang out with her for the day”  
  
“I'm sure that your girlfriend has better things to be doing with a day off” Sam still wouldn’t look at Maggie  
  
“I would love for the kids to hang out with my family and me tomorrow... I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my day off” Maggie looked at Sam as she spoke, “But it’s up to you, you are their mom”.  
  
“Mummy please??” Abby asked looking at her mum.  
  
Maggie knew that if Sam said no to both kids that it would be obvious to them that she was only saying no because of Maggie, there was no other reason for her to say no. Maggie had caught the facial expression Gina was wearing and had to try hard not to smile as they waited for Sam to give them an answer.  
  
“I guess then you can stay with your dad tonight, but if either of you change your mind just get your dad to call me and I’ll come to pick you up” Sam still wouldn’t look at Maggie, now she wasn’t even looking at Jubal either.  
  
“We will be fine mum” Tyler smiled hugging his mum thanking her for letting them stay.  
  
Abby reached out a free arm to hug her mum and kiss her cheek, which brought Maggie and Sam much closer than either of them wanted to be. Maggie decided to look at Jubal who was still gripping her hip a little. Sam said goodbye to the kids and walked away without looking at Jubal and Maggie. The minute that she walked away Maggie could feel Jubal’s hand starting to relax.  
  
“I guess it’s a sleepover in ours tonight then” Maggie smiled looking at Jubal and the kids.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie and Jubal take the kids home and they meet Maggie’s family

“You realise that we are going to have seven people sleeping at our place tonight?” Jubal raised his eyebrow looking at Maggie.  
  
“Hey, it’s Christmas we are allowed to have a full home” Maggie laughed softly.  
  
Tyler had started talking to Brandon about something from school after Brandon thanked Maggie for her soccer drills, and Abby had joined them as they stood to the side a little bit, but still close to the adults. Gina looked at Maggie and Jubal.  
  
“I have whole new level respect for you two… I mean honestly, I wanted to just slap, her a few times”.  
  
Maggie laughed, “Yeah I may have noticed you were also trying to hide that you were laughing”  
  
“I can safely say that my wife would not make it as an FBI agent” Dan laughed.  
  
“If it helps, I'm pretty sure Mags lets our her frustrations on a suspect when they try running from her” Jubal joked lightly, but the whole incident with Sam had once again really bothered him, he hated the way Sam spoke about Maggie even when she was standing right there.  
  
“I'm sorry who’s Maggie, I only know ‘Your Girlfriend’” Gina joked which just had Maggie laughing.  
  
“Yeah, I think I should change my name to that... I mean hey if she chooses to remind everyone that I’m Jubal’s girlfriend then I'm not going to stop her” She smiled wrapping her arm around Jubal’s waist. She knew that the conversation with Sam had really bothered him, hell Dan and Gina could see it, but they were all trying to help Jubal relax a little by joking about it.  
  
Jubal smiled hearing Maggie, and he kissed her temple, and then her head pulling her even closer to him “See? It was seriously impossible to work with this woman, and not fall in love with her”.  
  
“You two are very adorable, and that’s not a word I use often… Jubal you and Dan will have to arrange a night that we can go out for something to eat, it would be nice to hang out with you both without kids or ex’s around” Gina smiled looking at Jubal and Maggie.  
  
“When things calm down after Christmas we can definitely make that happen, thank you again for today, keeping the seats and standing by us” Jubal looked at Gina and leaned over hugging her as he really did appreciate everything they had done, they had gone out of their way to make sure that Maggie felt comfortable today.  
  
“No need to thank us Jubal, you know that Dan and I think a lot of you and the way that Tyler spoke about Maggie I knew that we would love her” Gina smiled as she hugged Jubal and then hugged Maggie.  
  
“Well thank you from me as well, you both made this a little less daunting. I'm sorry that we have to run, but my family is very anxious to meet Abby and Tyler” Maggie spoke as she hugged Dan before they all gathered heading out to their cars together, ignoring how Sam and her friends watched them the whole way. They all said their goodbyes before Maggie, Jubal and the kid’s climbed into the car. Maggie had texted Mel to say that they were on their way home, and she smiled seeing a reply straight away which she read out to Jubal.  
  
“We are going to be home before Mel and my parents, they are finishing up some things in the city, and then will join us at home”  
  
The kids spoke the whole journey back to Jubal and Maggie’s place filling them in on different things that had happened with their friends and at school since they had seen them even if it had only been a few days. Abby was so excited and full of energy talking about Santa, it was impossible not to smile while listening to her. When they got inside the apartment Jubal told the kids to go wash up before they had a snack. While Tyler and Abby ran to the bathroom Jubal gently took Maggie in his arms.  
  
“Thank you for today, for not slapping my ex-wife” He joked kissing Maggie’s neck as he stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her from behind, “For being amazing with the kids, for agreeing to have them stay with us tonight”  
  
Maggie chuckled hearing Jubal about not slapping Sam, she ran her hands along his arms’ leaning back against his chest “I honestly thought that Gina might slap her… But you don’t have to thank me babe, I meant it when I said, that I would love to have the kids tomorrow. The kids are always welcome here” she titled her head back catching Jubal’s lips in a sweet, soft kiss. They only broke apart when they heard Tyler and Abby coming back down the corridor with Abby carrying Sparkles.  
  
“Can we have a snack now daddy?” Abby smiled looking at her dad.  
  
“You know there is no doubting she is your daughter you both love your food” Maggie joked and laughed when Jubal started tickling her and that had Abby and Tyler laughing as they all made their way to the kitchen to get something to eat.  
  
They were all sitting on the couch eating, Abby was sitting on her dad’s knee with Tyler sitting between Jubal and Maggie. Maggie leaned back against the couch sipping her coffee as she watched the kids chatting constantly to their dad when not chewing.  
  
“Hey, would either of you like to bake some Christmas cookies?” Maggie looked at the kids while speaking.  
  
“You can bake?” Jubal raised his eyebrow looking at Maggie.  
  
“Some things yes… My mum used to make them with us each Christmas when we were younger, said she hoped it was something we carried on when we were older” Maggie didn’t have to say that her mum meant for them to make them with their own kids one day, she knew Jubal had realised what she meant as she saw it in his eyes as he looked at her.  
  
“Can we make Santa shaped ones?” Abby asked looking at Maggie.  
  
“I have some different cutters, we can make Santa, Christmas Trees, Reindeer, and snowmen”  
  
“And we get to decorate them ourselves when they are ready?” Tyler looked at Maggie.  
  
“We do... And I think that your dad might need some extra help from you when decorating his” Maggie winked playfully at the kids making them laugh.  
  
“Hey! I can hear you and yeah you are probably right” Jubal laughed, he couldn’t stop smiling, he was struggling to keep the emotions under control today, the way that Maggie was with the kids at the school, the way she handled Sam and now wanting to share this family tradition with his kids.  
  
“Don’t worry daddy we will help you” Abby smiled kissing his cheek.  
  
“Well let's go into the kitchen, and you both can help me check to make sure that I have everything we need to make them” Maggie had been planning on making the cookies for Jubal to take to the kids, but this was even better.  
  
The kids jumped up from the couch and followed Maggie into the kitchen, Jubal sat on the couch just watching them, he wanted to cherish this moment forever. Their first Christmas together was turning out better than he could have ever imagined and to have the kids be such a big part of it was making it even more special. This was already going down as one of his favourite Christmas’s in a very long time. He took a quick picture of Maggie hunkered down between Abby and Tyler as they read the list of what they needed, he sent the picture to his sister.  
  
‘Mags is about to bake Christmas cookies with your niece and nephew’  
  
Jen replied straight away, ‘Warning next time before the cuteness. You let this one go, and I'm gonna have to slap you... She sent me a picture of you with the kids during the weekend. So glad the first sleepover went so well. Can’t wait to see you all at Christmas’.  
  
Reading the message had Jubal smiling even more, to know that Maggie had texted his sister a picture of him with the kids showed that they both really did get on well. Jubal had just slid his phone back into his pocket when their door opened, and he smiled seeing Mel coming in with her parents behind her.  
  
“Hey, is Maggie and the kids not with you?” Mel asked as she sat down the bags she was carrying and walked towards the living room, and she stopped when she saw the view in the kitchen. Maggie and the kids had been laughing about something so hadn’t heard Mel, she watched as Maggie was still hunkered down between the kids showing them something.  
  
“Oh they are with me, but I don’t think they notice anything except for the three of them right now” Jubal smiled as he looked towards the love of his life with his kids, who were so happy.  
  
James closed the door a little louder than he had planned to and it caught the attention of Maggie and the kids who both froze a little when they looked up and seen the living room now with Jubal, Mel, Madeline and James. Tyler moved to stand behind Maggie a little and Abby wrapped her arms around Maggie’s neck.  
  
“Sorry, the door slipped out of my hand” James was afraid the noise had scared the kids.  
  
“It’s okay James, the kids are just a little shy around new people” Jubal smiled looking at James as he stood up and made his way over to Maggie and the kids.  
  
Maggie stood up lifting Abby with her as the young girl was holding on tight to her neck, and she wrapped her arm around Tyler as she felt him standing so close to her, and she met Jubal at the breakfast bar.  
  
“Abby, Tyler this is my mum Madeline, my dad James, and my sister Melissa” Maggie lay her head against Abby’s gently as Tyler moved to stand beside his dad who wrapped his arms around him.  
  
Mel smiled looking at them “Please, call me Mel… Only people, I don’t know call me Melissa” she smiled softly at the kids. Madeline couldn’t take her eyes off the four of them, they looked like such a family right now. She wasn’t even sure, she could speak around the lump in her throat as she really had given up the idea that Maggie would have her own family.  
  
James stepped passed his wife and daughter, and sat on the arm of the chair nearest to Maggie, Jubal and the kids as he smiled speaking softly “You must be the young lady that drew that card that’s hanging on my fridge back home”  
  
Abby was hiding a little in Maggie’s neck, but she had turned her head to look at James when she heard him talking to her “You liked the card?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper.  
  
“Don’t tell Maggie and her sister, but I think it might just be my favourite Christmas Card ever” He leaned in pretending to whisper to Abby who was giggling hearing him. Jubal smiled watching James, you could see the cop coming out in him a little as he knew how to get down to the kids level and talk to them and the way that he spoke softly to them.  
  
James looked at Tyler standing with his dad, “And you must be the young man who is interested in playing soccer. I hear Mel and Maggie gave you their file, has it helped?”  
  
“Maggie told you about that?” Tyler asked quietly but his interest was peaked when he heard the mention of soccer, it really was one of his favourite things right now.  
  
“She did… I even heard that you was fantastic at your tournament on Saturday morning” James smiled at Tyler. Maggie was so thankful her dad had clearly paid so much attention to everything they had told him as she could feel the kids ease into things with the way he was talking to them.  
  
Melissa and Madeline was still standing watching it all, they knew that Maggie and her dad had a special bond, so they weren’t surprised that James was the first to go over to the kids to try to help them feel more at ease with their company.  
  
James leaned in talking to James and Abby this time “I promise that the two standing behind me don’t bite… and if any of them including Maggie or your dad give you trouble you just come and tell me okay?” He winked at the kids who nodded their heads smiling as James stood up and looked at Madeleine and Mel, “Okay you two, stop staring at us… why don’t you go and put the bags away while they fill me in on what we are doing here in the kitchen”.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jubal, Maggie and the kids hang out with Maggie’s family.

Madeline and Mel lifted their shopping bags and carried them to the spare room that James and Madeline was sleeping in. They sat the bags down as Madeline looked at her daughter, still feeling so emotional.  
  
“They look like such a happy little family”  
  
Mel smiled hearing her mum “They really do. They clearly trust Mags, the way they clung to her when they saw us”.  
  
“Thank God your dad had no problems talking, I wasn’t sure I could talk past the emotions”  
  
“I was not expecting them to be in the kitchen alone with Mags with Jubal just sitting in the living room... Clearly, they all felt so comfortable” Mel smiled remembering the scene before her eyes before the kids realised she was there “Hopefully they will relax the more time we spend with them so that we can see the real them”  
  
Back in the kitchen, Maggie smiled still holding Abby “You want to tell my dad what we are doing?”  
  
Abby looked at Maggie and then at James, “Mags was going to make some cookie with us”.  
  
“Oh they used to be my favourite cookies when she made them with her mum” James smiled.  
  
“Did you help them make the cookies?” Tyler looked at James as he spoke.  
  
“I was usually working, so I missed that part, but if you are okay about it how about I help you and Mags can help Abby?” James wasn’t sure the young boy would be willing to agree to it, but he wanted to offer to try to help them relax.  
  
Tyler looked at his dad “Would that be okay Dad?”  
  
Jubal smiled hearing Tyler “Of course Buddy... I am more than happy to watch and eat them when ready” Jubal really couldn’t thank James enough for the way that he was being with his kids, he could see how much Maggie was like her Dad.  
  
“Okay then let’s get started so that we can enjoy them later” Maggie smiled as she carried Abby back around the other side of the breakfast bar, “Eh dad First, you need to go wash your hands please, the other three bakers have already done that”  
  
James held his hands up, “Yes, boss” The kids laughed watching and hearing him as he went to the kitchen sink and washed his hands using the hand towel that Jubal had grabbed for him...  
  
Tyler came around to stand between Maggie and her dad, Maggie looked at Abby “You okay if I let you sit on the counter so that you can help me?” Abby nodded smiling “Okay everyone is going to need to roll up their sleeves”.  
  
All four of them rolled up their sleeves with Tyler now standing closer to James, watching what the older man was doing, and he asked him to roll his sleeves up the way that James had so that they didn’t slide down. Jubal had stepped back a little from the kitchen as he watched the four of them working together. Mel and Madeline joined Jubal, and he smiled looking at Madeline.  
  
“You should go join them, Abby will be okay with Mags there with her” He could see the way that Madeline was watching them, he could tell she wanted to join in.  
  
“You sure? I don’t want to do anything that would upset the fun they are having” Madeline looked from the kitchen to Jubal.  
  
“I'm sure... Tyler is comfortable with James already and Abby will really be okay as long as Mags is there” Jubal smiled softly at Madeline.  
  
Madeline made her way into the kitchen as she watched the two adults and two kids working together on the cookies…“You guys need some help?”  
  
“What you think Abby You want to have my mum help us?” Maggie looked at Abby.  
  
“You’ll stay too?” Abby looked at Maggie.  
  
“Of course I will sweetheart I'm not going anywhere…”  
  
“Okay Maggie’s mummy you can help us” Abby smiled brightly at Madeline  
  
“You know I used to make these with Maggie when she was your size?” Madeline smiled as she started to help Abby.  
  
“To leave out for Santa?”  
  
“We did always keep some for Santa… I think he really liked them”.  
  
“Can we keep some for Santa?” Abby looked at Maggie as she asked.  
  
Maggie looked at Jubal for confirmation before smiling at Abby “Of course we can… Dad, Tyler we are going to make an extra special one each and keep it for Santa, sound good?” All five of them got back to make the cookies.  
  
Mel stood beside Jubal as they watched the five of them, she couldn’t stop smiling seeing her parents so relaxed and having fun with Tyler and Abby, and how truly happy that her sister looked.  
  
“What was that between you and Mags?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“The look she gave you”  
  
“Oh” Jubal laughed softly “My sister claims that me and Mags can have a conversation with our eyes without actually talking”  
  
“After witnessing it, I think it’s safe to say your sister is right” Mel laughed nudging Jubal’s shoulder “Thank you” When he looked at her confused she decided to explain “I don’t know the last time, I have seen my parents laugh and smile so much and I have never seen my sister this happy... You made all of this happen.”  
  
“Your sister made all of this happen… Mags has been amazing with the kids, dealing with my ex-wife, dealing with tough cases at work, I wanted to do something for her, to make her smile” Jubal was honest with Mel as he knew that Mags talked to her sister about everything.  
  
“You know you are the reason that she smiles the way that she does. My parents even talked about it today, we don't think we have ever seen her the way that she is with you” Mel looked from the kitchen to Jubal, “So how long have you had feelings for her?.”  
  
“A couple of years” He didn’t see any point in lying to Mel, “But I never let them show at all, I knew Mags was dealing with a lot of things after Jason’s death and I would rather have her as a friend than not have her at all... We started spending more time together at work, she started talking about giving dating a try... I never thought that Mags would look at me that way… Hell, your sister could have any man that she wanted.”  
  
Mel listened to Jubal as he spoke taking in every word he said, she noticed how the whole time he was talking he hadn’t taken his eyes off Maggie until he had stopped talking. She hadn’t expected him to be so honest, but she really respected that he was since he knew that Mel and Maggie liked to talk about everything.  
  
“You know she told me and my parents how much you all helped her deal with everything after Jason’s death. We knew she was throwing herself into work, but she told us the few times you stood up to her and made her back down because she was going too far... She may have been so frustrated at the time, but it meant so much to her that you did that…” Mel looked at Jubal “You know that my sister is with the man that she wants. Jubal I can promise you that my sister is completely in love with you... I don’t think you allow yourself to see how much she truly loves you, the same way she doesn't always allow herself to see that you absolutely love and adore her.”  
  
“I was never going to let her do anything that would harm herself or harm her career, I knew it was one of the things saving her back then” Jubal smiled softly, that reserved smile that only appeared when looking at Maggie and when he didn’t have to hide his love “I really hope this visit lets you and your parents see that Mags really does have a family here that love and adore her… My kids seriously can’t get enough of your sister, and there isn't anything that I wouldn’t do for her”.   
  
“Oh, we are all already aware of that… My parents always worried about her being here on her own, they knew your team is like family, but they wanted her to have a life outside of work, have her own family... You are giving her that Jubal” Mel smiled as she watched Jubal who was watching them all in the kitchen as they put the cookies into the oven.  
  
Abby came running into the living room to where Mel and her dad was standing, “Daddy, can you get my colours please, Mag's mum said she would colour with me.”  
  
Mel hunkered down in front of Abby “Would you like to show me where they are, and I’ll get them for you and maybe we can all colour some unicorns” Mel remembered that Mags had told her how much Abby lover Unicorns.  
  
Abby looked up at her dad, he nodded smiling, “Go on baby girl, they are in the storage box in your room, we will be right here when you come back” Abby took Mel’s hand and lead her upstairs to get the colours.  
  
James came into the living room to play some games with Tyler who was now chatting a lot more as he felt completely comfortable. Jubal came into the kitchen, and he smiled wrapping his arms around Maggie from behind unable to resist, and he smiled even more feeling her lean back against him, he looked at Madeline, “Abby has gone with Mel to get the colours, you should take the minutes rest before they come back I’ll help Maggie tidy up in here”.  
  
Madeline was about to argue and offer to help clean up, but Maggie shook her head smiling, “Go mum, enjoy the time with Abby, me and Jubal has got this” she lay her hands on Jubal’s arms while looking at her mum who held up her hands laughing walking into the living room... Maggie tilted her head back looking at Jubal “I love you so much babe” she leaned up kissing him softly but with love.  
  
He smiled holding her as close as he could as he kissed her back with just as much love placing small kisses to her lips before resting his chin on her shoulder, “What did I do to deserve that, you know just to know, so I can do it again” He joked.  
  
“You made this all possible, we have most of the people that we love under one roof... This is turning out to be one of the best Christmas’s I've had since I was a kid” Maggie ran her hands along Jubal’s arms resting her temple against his as they watched the living room full of noise from James, Tyler, Madeline, Mel and Abby.  
  
“It’s been perfect… You know you just keep making me fall more in love with you, you didn’t have to share that tradition with the kids, I know your mum meant for you to do that with your own kids. To share that with Abby and Tyler, and for your mum and dad to get involved with it too... Baby, that’s more than I could have ever wished for this Christmas… This right here with you, watching our family, in our home… it’s so perfect”.  
  
Maggie lifted one of her hands up to caress Jubal’s cheek gently as she could hear the emotion in his voice as he said ‘our family and in our home’, she kept her temple against his caressing his cheek with her thumb “Did you think seven months ago that this would be our life right now?.”  
  
Jubal shook his head gently “Baby, I couldn't even have imagined you giving me the chance to show that some men were worth second dates let alone be living together having my kids clearly bonding with your parents and sister. I'm afraid of screwing this up Mags” he admitted quietly.  
  
“When I asked you to move in, you told me it wouldn’t always be easy, we know that… But we will always fight for each other and will always support each other… So nothing either of us does will screw this up when it’s what we both want” She rubbed her cheek gently against Jubal’s closing her eyes as she pulled his arms tighter around her just enjoying the sound of their family in their home while the man that she loved held her.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They all spend some time together before Jubal is called into work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys are enjoying this story, will hopefully have it finished tomorrow

The kids had enjoyed getting their time with James, Madeline and Mel, they both had gotten more comfortable and were chatting a lot more. They had decorated the cookies when they had cooled after coming out of the oven, the kids had gone upstairs with Maggie and Jubal for their bath and to get into Pyjamas as they were all going to watch a Christmas movie. Maggie had changed in her to sweatpants and Jubal’s hoodie, and she was laying against Jubal’s side sitting on the couch, Abby was on Maggie’s knee and Tyler was tucked into his dad’s other side as they curled up watching the movie.  
  
Mel had managed to get her phone out and take a picture of the four of them snuggled up together as they really couldn’t have been sitting any closer to each other. She felt her battle with her own emotions as she saw Abby snuggle up laying on Maggie and Tyler snuggle in tighter to his dad, the way that Jubal tightened his hold on Maggie and would run his fingers through her hair or kiss her head or temple. Mel was not sure she had ever seen two people more in love and if anyone were to walk in right now they would think that Abby and Tyler were Jubal and Maggie’s kids the way the four of them was curled up.  
  
Madeline and James had both noticed the way the four of them was snuggled up together on the couch, it was why Madeline got up bringing in the cookies when the kids were allowed to have one, she didn’t want them to have move as they all looked so comfortable. After the movie was over the kids said goodnight to Mel, Madeline and James, they then both hugged Maggie tight as they went upstairs with Jubal for their bedtime story. Jubal leaned over the couch kissing the top of Maggie's head.  
  
“I’ll be back down when I get them to sleep”  
  
Maggie leaned her head back to look at Jubal, “Take your time babe” She smiled as she waved at the kids as they walked down the hallway heading upstairs with their dad. Maggie got comfortable on the couch again curling up in Jubal's hoodie as she looked at her family, “Okay why are you three staring at me, do I have something on my face?”  
  
Mel laughed shaking her head, “No… we are just all enjoying seeing this side to you, the kids brought out a completely different side in you… And you were right I can see why you adore them, they really are amazing kids. Abby is so adorable and Tyler is smart and sensitive, and it works perfectly together”.  
  
Maggie smiled hearing Mel talk about the kids “They really are so amazing, they had so much fun today though, thank you for that. I think that is the most tired I've ever seen them, so I'm sure that you guys are exhausted as well”.  
  
Madeline shook her head “Its good exhaustion... It was really nice to see that you have built your own family, your own life here… Jubal should really be proud of his kids”.  
  
“He has so many reasons to be proud of those kids, they really are a credit to him” James smiled looking at his daughter.  
  
“Mel I'm sorry that you have to take the couch tonight, but neither of us could say no when the kids asked if they could stay here.”  
  
Mel shook her head “No need to apologise Mags honestly I'm happy to take the couch, I'm looking forward to breakfast with them tomorrow.”  
  
Jubal didn’t take long to come back down the stairs as the kids both fell asleep before the story was finished as it had been a long day for them and a day full of so much excitement. When he joined Maggie again on the couch, he smiled feeling her snuggle into his side straight away, he realised that they both had been even more openly affectionate in front of her family, and it was something that he was really enjoying. It wasn’t long before the adults were calling it a night either as they had all been exhausted too.  
  
Maggie was in a deep sleep when Jubal’s phone ringing woke her, she groaned when he hadn’t moved she grabbed his phone checking the caller ID before answering, “Hey Isobel, hang on” Maggie slapped Jubal's arm gently making him groan “It’s Isobel…”  
  
Jubal took the phone from Maggie and rubbed his face before smiling as he felt Maggie lay her head on his chest, he ran his fingers through her hair slowly “Isobel, I'm guessing you need me to come in”.  
  
“I do, I'm sorry but with Maggie out today we need you in for this” Isobel did feel bad bringing Jubal in as she knew that Maggie’s family was in town.  
  
“It’s okay, I’ll be there in fifteen, twenty minutes” Jubal hung up the phone and sat it to the side, and he kissed Maggie’s head.  
  
“Go babe, the kids can spend the day with me, I'm sure they will love me and Mel sneaking them a cookie after breakfast” she smirked as she pulled her head back to look at Jubal, “Honestly, I'm happy for them to spend the day with us.”  
  
“You sure? I know we knew this might happen when we agreed to them staying…”  
  
Maggie leaned up kissing Jubal softly “I promise you it’s okay… Now go before your phone starts ringing again” she gently and playfully pushed Jubal out of the bed as he went into their bathroom to get ready for work.  
  
It didn’t take Jubal long to get ready to head into work when he was sure he had everything he leaned over kissing Maggie “I will check in with you guys as much as I can today... Tell the kids I'm sorry, and that I love them”.  
  
“I’ll tell them babe... Go before you really don’t want to leave” She squeezed his hand gently as she ran her free hand along his cheek.  
  
“I love you baby” He stole one more quick kiss before finally leaving with the sound of Maggie telling him she loved him too bringing a smile to his face.  
  
Jubal wasn’t gone long before Maggie felt their bed moving, and she opened her eyes again smiling seeing Abby laying on what had become Jubal’s side of the bed, “Hey sweetie, everything okay?.”  
  
“Where’s daddy?” Abby was cuddling Sparkles tight.  
  
“He had to go into work, his boss called... But you are going to spend the day with me” Maggie smiled softly at Abby as she brushed some hair out of the young girl's face.  
  
“Can I stay in here with you?” Abby asked quietly unsure of what the answer would be when her dad wasn’t there.  
  
Maggie opened her arm out “Of course you can Sweetie” Abby moved in beside Maggie straight away cuddling into her side laying her head on Maggie’s shoulder. She lay running her fingers through Abby’s hair knowing that helped her fall back to sleep. Maggie could tell from Abby’s even and slow breathing that she was back to sleep, she grabbed her phone and took a selfie sending it to Jubal with the message, ‘Someone has decided to keep your place warm for you.”  
  
Jubal had just left Isobel’s office walking into the JOC when he heard his phone, he took it off the holder and his whole face lit up as he looked at the picture of Abby fast asleep in his bed laying her head on Maggie, ‘My two favourite girls… Missing you both already.”  
  
OA, Kristen, Scola and Tiffany was standing watching Jubal as he stood smiling at his phone clearly having not heard them yet, so OA tried again “Hey Jubal, you with us?”  
  
Jubal looked up from his phone, “Hmm… What… Sorry OA did you ask something?”  
  
Kristen raised her eyebrow, “What was that good on your phone that you are this distracted?.”  
  
“A photo of my girlfriend and daughter…” Jubal smiled softly still having the photo clear in his mind.  
  
“Eh hello… Is anyone going to tell us where Maggie is?” OA wanted to ask more about the girlfriend and his daughter, but he really wanted to know where his partner was.  
  
Ian had to hide his smirk sitting at the computer as he watched Jubal if only OA knew asking that question was so appropriate right now... Jubal looked at OA “Maggie is out for a few days, her family are in town.”  
  
“And she told you and not me?.”  
  
“I’m the one she had to contact for the time off… They arrived in last minute as a surprise for her” Jubal was glad that he had coffee on the way that his mind was able to come up with that answer quickly.  
  
“That explains why she has been so quiet the last few days with her texts” OA seemed satisfied that Jubal’s answer made sense, “Okay so now let’s get back to that photo of your girlfriend and daughter…”  
  
“Let’s get to work instead” Jubal shook his head laughing.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids spend the day with Maggie and her family.

Maggie had stayed awake but continued to lay in bed with Abby until she saw Tyler gently knocking the bedroom door just as Abby was wakening up. The three of them went downstairs to make breakfast, and she told Tyler and her family about Jubal being called into work. But she told the kids that it meant she could take them shopping to get their dad’s Christmas presents. Maggie was surprised when her mum, dad, and sister said they would tag along if it were okay with the kids, to which they agreed to quickly.  
  
Maggie had got a message from OA to say that he hoped, she was having a great time with her family and that Kris was stepping in as his partner for the day. She sent a quick reply to OA saying she was really enjoying her time, and that she would be back at work soon not to give Kris a hard time, she was joking when she said that as she knew that OA would be great with Kristen.  
  
Maggie took a picture of the kids with her parents and Mel as they were all sitting drinking hot chocolate sitting in the City under some Christmas lights, she sent the picture to Jubal along with the message ‘The kids are having a great time with their hot chocolate… And yes that goes for all 5 of them’.  
  
Jubal was trying to focus on work, so that he could get back home as soon as possible, he knew that the kids and Maggie were used to each other by now, but he still was hoping that today wasn’t too much as this was the first time that she had been with the kids without him. Hearing his phone beep he checked it straight away in case it was Maggie needing something, he smiled seeing the picture and replied ‘You are spoiling all of them I see… Hope you guys are having a good day’.  
  
Maggie smiled seeing Jubal’s name appear on her phone as she checked the message and replied ‘They are doing great… They say hi and send their love, we are having fun, I promise… Would be more fun with you here though’.  
  
Jubal only had the time to quickly read the message before he had to get back to work. The kids had gotten their presents for their dad and Maggie had gotten everything that they needed, so they had headed back home. The day had gone by really quickly as they were really enjoying their day together, the kids had gotten more comfortable with Maggie’s family so were now chatting with them non-stop about anything and everything. Maggie didn’t realise the time until she saw Jubal’s name on her screen as he was ringing her, she stepped into the hallway to answer.  
  
“Hey babe, I'm guessing you ringing means that you aren’t making it home any time soon?”  
  
Jubal sighed “I really wish I was saying something different, but I can’t leave... I’ll get Sam to collect the kids from your’s... She is going to love this”.  
  
Maggie could hear the disappointment and tiredness in Jubal’s voice, “Babe, you know that I understand work, the kids know you would be here if you could and don’t ring Sam, I’ll take the kids home... Mel will come with me to keep me company”.  
  
“Mag’s I can’t ask you to do that” Jubal was thankful that Isobel had allowed him to use her office to make the call so that he could talk openly.  
  
“You aren’t asking, I'm offering… I’ll put the kids on so that you can talk to them for a little bit, and then I’ll take them home”.  
  
“Are you sure about this?”  
  
Maggie smiled even though Jubal couldn’t see her “Babe, I promise you that I am sure about this… I'm going to put the kids on now okay?”  
  
“Hey, baby…”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“I love you” Jubal smiled saying those words  
  
“I love you too Agent Valentine” Maggie smiled when she heard the chuckle from Jubal at the fact that she was calling him Agent Valentine.  
  
Maggie put the kids on to the phone to their dad, and they told him about how much fun they had today and how Maggie had wrapped up the cookies for them to take home for Santa, they were full of energy and joy as they spoke to their dad. Maggie couldn't stop smiling watching and listening to them.  
  
Jubal couldn't stop the large smile on his face as he listened to his kids talk so fast about the great day they had and how happy they were. Maggie and their family had really given the kids an amazing day out, and that meant so much to them. He told them both that he loved them so much, and that he would see them Christmas morning. When they had hung up Maggie made sure that the kids had everything before they left getting into the car with Mel joining them. When they had stopped at traffic lights Maggie was able to check her phone and read the message from Jubal.  
  
‘I know you are going to tell me I don’t have to but I really want to thank you for taking the kids home, and for the day, you have given them. They sounded so happy on the phone, and that has made being stuck at work away from you all a little easier. I love you so much baby’.  
  
Maggie smiled reading the message, she knew that talking to the kids would help Jubal get through the rest of the evening and night at work. She quickly replied ‘I love you too, I’ll see you tonight babe’.  
  
The kids talked the whole way home so the journey went quickly and when they pulled up at Sam’s place she came out and stood at the door waiting for the kids. Maggie got out of the SUV and helped Abby out and hugged both kids as they thanked her for everything and ran to the door to their mum. Maggie was thankful she didn’t have to deal with Sam, she waited until they got inside before climbing back into the SUV and heading home.  
  
Maggie had dinner with her family, they were catching her up on things going on at home, they kept thanking her for everything over the last couple of days. As nice as it was to have the night with her family as they were heading back home tomorrow she couldn’t help but miss Jubal especially when sitting in their home. She realised that she had really gotten used to having him close by most of the time. Maggie and her family stayed up as late as they could before tiredness took over for them all, she said goodnight to them all and climbed into her and Jubal’s bed.  
  
She didn’t know how long she had been asleep when she heard a noise in their bedroom, and she reached over turning on the lamp and seen Jubal taking off his shirt.  
  
“Hey you” She smiled sleepily at him  
  
“Sorry baby, I didn’t mean to wake you” He smiled watching Maggie who looked so comfortable right now.  
  
“I’m glad that I woke… I wasn’t sure that I would be getting to see you tonight” she pulled back the covers for him as he walked over to their bed.  
  
“We finally got what we needed as none of us wanted to have to work a case tomorrow with it being Christmas Eve” Jubal climbed into the bed and smiled when Maggie moved into his arms straight away.  
  
“I'm glad that you guys got what was needed. I’ve gotten very used to having company in this bed and I don’t have Abby to keep me company this time” She smirked placing kisses to Jubal’s neck.  
  
“You know you need to give a man warning before sending the photo you did this morning, it was such a beautiful picture of you both” Jubal held Maggie close to him kissing her head as he ran his hands along her back slowly “I'm sorry that I didn’t get to spend the day with you all”  
  
“You were missed a lot, by me the most, but you know that I'm not mad at you about it?” She pulled her head from his neck so that she could look into his eyes and caressed his cheek “No one is mad at you for today babe, I promise”.  
  
Jubal leaned in kissing Maggie slowly but with so much love and passion “I could spend every day for the rest of our lives thanking you for everything you have done for me and the kids and it still wouldn’t be enough”  
  
“You know you can’t talk to me like that when my parents are downstairs, and my sister is in the room next to us” Maggie smirked playfully as she ran her fingertips along the skin on Jubal's spine sliding one of her legs between his to get as close to him as possible.  
  
“I'm just being honest, its what happens when you are madly in love with someone that you just can’t get enough of” Jubal smirked as he rolled Maggie on to her back, and he leaned over as he leaned down and kissed her passionately with so much love and desire.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Day, with some gift giving.

Maggie was never one for taking risks when her parents and sister was staying with her, but she couldn’t resist Jubal last night nor when he woke her this morning by nipping at the skin gently at her neck. Trying to stay quiet was something that they both struggled a little with, it led to Maggie gripping Jubal’s back tight, her fingers digging into his skin a little as he bit the skin gently on her collar bone to drown out his moans. Jubal had rolled on to his back trying to calm his breathing down after reaching such a high, taking Maggie with him who was now laying with her head on his chest running her fingers along his chest.  
  
“I think you may have left a mark on my shoulder”  
  
“I would apologise but I really wouldn't mean it” he smirked playfully laughing when Maggie poked his chest with her finger.  
  
“Just be thankful mister that it’s somewhere that I can hide it” she lifted her head resting her chin on his chest so that she could watch him as she placed kisses to his jawline. “You are a very bad influence babe” Maggie teased playfully.  
  
“I wasn’t getting any complaints earlier” Jubal smirked as he ran his fingers through Maggie’s hair and leaned down kissing her slowly.  
  
“Hmm… You’ll never get any complaints from me” She smiled against his lips as she kissed him again with so much love. She really would never get enough of this man.  
  
They lay on in bed for another while before they got up and got dressed for the day before going downstairs to her family who was sitting in the living room. They suggested that they all head out for breakfast before her parents and Mel had to head to the airport to head home. After sharing a really nice breakfast they were all standing out the front of Maggie and Jubal’s apartment as they waited on the Uber to come and take them to the airport.  
  
Madeline hugged Jubal tight “Thank you for making this trip possible, it was amazing getting to see Maggie, and we are so glad that we got to meet you and your wonderful kids”.  
  
Jubal smiled as he hugged Madeline back “Thank you for agreeing to come here on such short notice. It was really nice getting to meet you all and the kids had an amazing time with you, James and Mel.”  
  
James shook Jubal's hand, “Take care of my daughter.”  
  
Jubal nodded smiling “I will always take care of Maggie no matter what.”  
  
Mel had pulled her sister into a really tight hug “Enjoy every minute with him, you both deserve to be happy, and he brings out the best in you Mags… Hold on tight to him, you both are meant to be together, more than any other couple I've seen before”.  
  
Maggie smiled as she hugged her sister back just as tight “I don’t plan on letting go of him, he has opened my life to so many possibilities. It really is better with him in it... I'm so glad that you guys finally got to meet face to face”.  
  
Maggie hugged her parents thanking them for coming and telling them how much she loved them, Jubal and Mel hugged saying their goodbyes as they climbed into the Uber and waved at Maggie and Jubal as they left heading to the airport. Jubal wrapped his arm around Maggie’s shoulder as he kissed her temple watching the Uber until they could no longer see it.  
  
“I think it’s safe to say that it went well having your family here?.”  
  
Maggie smiled wrapping her arm around Jubal’s waist snuggling into his side resting her free hand on his stomach as she kissed his cheek “I honestly couldn’t have asked for it to go any better… Thank you, babe for making all of this possible, and for making our first Christmas together one that I'm never going to forget.”  
  
Jubal smiled as he kissed Maggie softly before they went back inside the apartment, they tided up after having the kids and her family stay. When they were satisfied the apartment was tidy they got the kids Santa presents out to Jubal’s SUV and made sure they hadn’t forgotten anything. Jubal went to take the presents to Sam’s house and Maggie went out to the store to get the final things that they needed for the kids and Jen, and her family coming to theirs tomorrow evening.  
  
Maggie thankfully wasn’t too long at the store, and she was able to wrap the presents for Jubal from her and the kids and put them under the Christmas Tree to give to him tomorrow when they came home from Sam’s house. Jubal wasn’t home much longer after Maggie as he didn’t hang around Sam’s house too long. They both decided to have an early night as it had been a crazy few days, and they were going to have an early start tomorrow so that they were at Sam’s house in time for the kids getting up to see their presents.  
  
Christmas morning and dinner at Sam’s had actually been less painful than both Jubal and Maggie was expecting, it seemed that Sam was behaving differently while Alan was around. She didn’t give Jubal a hard time about how he always had to have his hands on Maggie, whether it been sitting on the couch so close while the kids opened their presents from Santa or at the dinner table as his arm rested on the back of her chair with his fingertips running along her shoulder blade. That doesn’t mean that Sam didn’t notice how close Jubal stayed to Maggie the whole time or how happy that he looked while looking at Maggie. The way that his face lit up when looking at Maggie, it was impossible for Sam not to notice any of it, but while Alan was around she kept the thoughts to herself, for now anyway.  
  
When their early dinner was over Jubal lifted the kid's bags and checked that they had everything they wanted and needed for their overnight stay with him and Maggie. He walked out to the car with Maggie and waited for the kids to say goodbye to their mum before helping Abby into her booster seat and making sure that both her and Tyler were safely in the car before he pulled away from Sam’s heading home.  
  
Maggie hadn’t stopped smiling all day, she got to see Jubal completely unguarded and full of so much love as he watched Abby and Tyler who were buzzing from so much excitement. She realised that having kids made Christmas completely different, it made it so much more enjoyable, and she was so thankful that Jubal had asked her to be a part of this day. She got to watch him just fully embrace getting to be nothing but Jubal the dad, no worries about anything else other than family. Maggie had noticed how he had relaxed the minute that they got into the car and were on their way home she knew that now she had the completely relaxed Jubal that just got to be himself and those moments were some that she cherished the most.  
  
It didn’t take them long to get home as the traffic was light as it was Christmas Day, they carried the kid's bags inside and up to their rooms before all four of them gathered again in the living room. Maggie and Jubal had just sat down on the couch, when Abby came running over to Maggie.  
  
“Can we give daddy his presents now?” The young girl was so excited about giving her dad his presents.  
  
Maggie smiled, “Sure Sweety… Let me get them for you” she walked over and lifted the presents from under the tree and brought them back over to the couch and handed one to Tyler and one to Abby.  
  
“Merry Christmas Daddy” Both kids shouted it at the same time, they were both really excited about giving him his gifts, so excited that they hadn't even asked about opening the ones with their names on them.  
  
“Thank you so much” Jubal took the gifts from his kids and hugged them tightly before he sat one of the presents beside him while opening the other one.  
  
Tyler and Abby watched standing close to Maggie who was sitting beside Jubal as he opened the first present which was a Pencil holder engraved ‘To the best Agent and Daddy. We love you so much, from Tyler and Abby’ Jubal took the holder out, running his thumb over the engraving as he smiled reading it.  
  
“Do you like it? Maggie said you only use pencils at work” Tyler asked looking at his dad.  
  
“I love it, buddy so much… it’s perfect” Jubal hugged both his kids tight, to know that Maggie had gotten this for him with his kids meant so much to him, he was struggling to keep the emotions at bay.  
  
“Look at the top of the pencil's babe” Maggie smiled watching Jubal with the kids, she loved that the kids wanted to get him something that he could use at work, and she knew he would display this proudly on his desk.  
  
Jubal took the pencils and looked at the tops of them to see that ‘J Valentine’ was on each pencil. Abby smiled brightly “Mags said this way no one can steal your pencils when you sit them down”.  
  
“Mags is right, I am always holding a pencil at work and I have nowhere to keep them, so I keep losing them... But now I can’t lose them” Jubal hugged both his kids again.  
  
“Open your next one” Tyler smiled looking at his dad, both kids were so happy that they got to give their dad something that he could take to work with him.  
  
“You know that this was more than enough for me?” Jubal looked at the kids and Maggie as he lifted the next gift to open it. He took the wrapping paper off to find a box, opening it he slid out the large dark grey coffee mug and turned it around to read what it said, ‘Daddy, a son’s first hero. A daughter’s first love.” Jubal’s eyes filled with a few tears as he ran his thumb over the words.  
  
Maggie had been watching as he opened it “I know you love the mug at work, but it needs replacing and the kids wanted you to have something that you could use at work that was from them as they hadn’t been able to do that before”.  
  
Jubal looked at Maggie “It’s perfect... Both gifts are so perfect… Thank you” Jubal leaned over kissing Maggie softly, these gifts may have seemed simple to anyone else but to him, they meant so much and to know that they were from the kids and Maggie.  
  
Abby looked at her dad, “There’s more” she giggled as she and Tyler ran back over to the Christmas Tree...  
  
Jubal was holding both the pencil holder and mug as he looked at Maggie, “Baby, this is already way too much... I know you got these for the kids to me... That was more than I needed….”  
  
Maggie lay her chin on Jubal’s shoulder seeing the emotion in his eyes, she knew he wasn’t used to this, and she was now even more thankful that they had gotten such personal gifts for him “You deserve it babe, we all wanted to get you something special”.  
  
“All I needed was time with you and the kids” He leaned in kissing Maggie softly.  
  
The kids came back over Abby standing in front of Tyler to give her present first “This one is from me, Tyler and Maggie” Maggie chuckled softly as Abby was almost bouncing on the spot, she took the pencil holder and mug from Jubal so that he could take the gift from Abby.  
  
“From all three of you huh?” Jubal chuckled as he watched his daughter unable to stand still “You want to help me open it?” Abby didn’t need to be asked twice as she helped him with ripping the paper, inside was a framed picture of Jubal with Abby laying on his chest and Tyler resting his head on his arm... His face lit up as he looked at such a special moment being caught on camera, and he looked at Maggie.  
  
“When did you even take this?”  
  
“Last week when you guys FaceTimed me... It was just too adorable to resist taking a screenshot of... And the thin frame means you can keep it in your top drawer at work” Maggie smiled looking at Jubal.  
  
Tyler looked at Maggie unsure about the gift he was holding, and she smiled nodding for him to go ahead, he handed the small box over to his dad “This one is from Maggie”.  
  
Jubal set the framed photo down on the coffee table in front of him, and he took the small box from Tyler, he loved how Maggie was including the kids in all of this, he could see how happy that it was making the kids and it was filling his heart with so much love. He unwrapped the small box and took off the lid to find a watch with a silver and dark blue face and leather straps.  
  
“Maggie this is…. Beautiful and definitely way too much” Jubal looked at Maggie.  
  
“Look at the back of it” Maggie was slightly nervous about Jubal reading the engraving on it.  
  
Jubal raised his eyebrow hearing Maggie, he took out the watch sliding it off the holder so that he could look at the back and his eyes immediately landed on the engraving, ‘Jubal, I love you more with every passing second.” He read the engraving once more before he looked at Maggie, the tears back in his eyes, this woman really did know how to leave him speechless, she had put so much time and thought into these gifts. He had never had anyone get him something so special.  
  
“Baby…” Jubal’s voice broke a little as he swallowed the lump in his throat, and he leaned over kissing Maggie with so much love “I love you so much” He lay his forehead against Maggie’s.  
  
“That means daddy like’s it right?” Abby asked causing both adults to chuckle before pulling back from each other.  
  
Jubal looked at Abby “It means that I love it... I love all these gifts... You guys have definitely spoiled me”.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jubal gives his gifts to Maggie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter in another part of the Maggie and Jubal collection. Thank you so much to everyone who has read this story, left kudos or sent messages, I really do appreciate it all. 
> 
> I hope you have enjoyed reading this story

Jubal sat the watch back on to its holder, and he sat it on the table along with his framed photo, pencil holder and new mug, he really couldn’t stop smiling. He was never one that cared about material things but Maggie had known that about him so had made sure to make all the gifts personal so that they would mean something to him, showing him that she really did know him better than anyone.

“Daddy you give your gifts to Maggie” Abby pulled her Dad’s hand to try to get him to stand up.

Jubal had no idea how Abby hadn’t told Maggie yet there was actually a gift from the kids for her, he was sure that Abby would let it slip but so far she hadn’t. Jubal got to his feet when his daughter pulled on his hand, and they went over to the tree lifting the gifts which they had gotten for Maggie. Jubal carried them back over to the couch, and he held out the first gift giving it to Tyler and Abby.

“We asked Dad if we could get you a gift, we hope you like it” Tyler spoke as he and Abby handed over the present.

Maggie was so surprised when she heard the kids, she never for a second thought that they would be getting her anything.“You two are just the sweetest kids ever” she smiled as she took the gift from them and opened it as both kids watched to see if Maggie liked their gift. Maggie opened it to find a framed photo of her, Jubal and the kids with a unicorn in one corner and a soccer ball in the opposite corner. She had such a large smile on her face as she looked at the picture and the icons on the frame.

“I picked the unicorn” Abby smiled proudly as Jubal and Tyler chuckled.

“Your sister sent me that picture yesterday morning, she took it of us the other night, and it seemed the perfect picture to put in the frame” Jubal looked at Maggie, loving the fact that they had both surprised each other with framed photos.

“I love it, the photo is amazing and the unicorn and football just make it so perfect, now I get to have a little of you both here with me” Maggie smiled as she hugged Tyler and Abby thanking them again for their gift.

Jubal handed the smaller box that he was holding to Maggie, she took the wrapping paper off and took the lid off and couldn't believe her eyes as she ran her fingers over the Pandora Charm bracelet, she turned the charm around to see it was a heart with a stone in the middle... Maggie looked at Jubal “You got my birthstone…how did you know about this?.”

“You had mentioned to Kristen about wanting a Charm Bracelet, and I talked to Mel, and she told me that you have always talked about wanting to get one. I wanted to get you one that you could wear at work and not be afraid of losing. There were a few options for your first charm, but then I saw this one, and that was my mind made up.”

“I can’t believe you remembered me even saying that to Kristen, you and I were't even dating at the time…. The charm is perfect, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect first charm for it. Thank you, babe, it really is perfect… I love it” Maggie smiled as she took the bracelet out and got Jubal to help her put it on.

“Your parents asked me to give you this from them” Jubal smiled handing Maggie a small box, and she opened it to find they had bought her a charm for the bracelet saying ‘daughter’ on it.

Maggie took the charm out letting it lay in her hand as she looked at Jubal “You told my parents what you were getting me?.”

Jubal smiled nodding, “When I told Mel what I was thinking of getting, she told me your parents would want to know, so they left the Charm with me to give you”.

Maggie leaned over and kissed Jubal before hugging him so tight, she couldn’t believe that he had gone to the bother of speaking to her family about her gift “This is one of the most beautiful gifts, I have ever been given thank you, Jubal”

Jubal hugged Maggie back just as tight, he was so glad to see that she loved the Charm bracelet so much, he had been nervous telling her parents about it, but they told him how much Maggie would love it, and they both really appreciated that he was including them in it… “I’ve one more for you to open” He pulled back and lifted the final smallish box handing to Maggie.

“You know you can’t say we got you too much with how much you have got me” Maggie chuckled softly as she waited until Jubal put the daughter charm on her bracelet before taking the box from him. She took the wrapping paper off and lifted the lid off to reveal a beautiful yet simple silver necklace with the letter, ‘M’ in gold on a silver disc.

Jubal was nervous about this gift, he had been nervous about them all honestly, this was the first time he had really put so much thought into a gift for someone that he loved. He really wanted to get this perfect.

“I choose a simple chain, so that you could wear it at work without getting too many questions from the team and without it getting in the way of having to run… Turn the disc over” Jubal kept his eyes on Maggie.

She couldn’t believe that Jubal had taken the time to think about picking out jewellery for her that she could wear at work and that wouldn’t draw too much attention. She really did love how thoughtful he could be, and he was really showing it with his gifts to her. Hearing Jubal she turned the disc over to read the engraving ‘Every Step I have taken was to bring me closer to you.”

“Oh Jubal…” Maggie took her eyes off the necklace to look at Jubal as tears filled her eyes as she looked at the man she loved more than anything “This is so beautiful and perfect... I love it”.

Jubal let out the breath he didn’t even realise he had been holding as he saw how much Maggie loved it “It’s the truth baby, and you don’t have to wear it at work if you don’t feel comfortable with the engraving”

Maggie shook her head as she leaned over kissing Jubal resting her free hand on his cheek “I will be wearing it, everyday babe… It’s from you, if people see the engraving I don’t care. They will see that I am extremely lucky to have the sweetest man in the world” Maggie smiled as she stole another quick kiss from Jubal before asking him to put the necklace on her for. She ran her hand over it when he put it on, she really couldn’t believe the beautiful, personal, and meaningful gifts which he had gotten her… She really was completely and madly in love with this man who continued to surprise her.

“You know bringing my family here was already way too much babe.”

“You deserve all of this and so much more baby” Jubal smiled kissing Maggie once more before reluctantly pulling back.

Jubal and Maggie gave their gifts to the kids who were both over the moon with their gifts, they both kept thanking Maggie and their dad for what they had got. Of course, the kids wanted to open their gifts straight away and Maggie, and Jubal were more than happy to get involved with them, Jubal was building Lego with Tyler while Maggie was sitting on the floor helping Abby doing her Unicorn glow in the dark jigsaw. They hadn’t realised the time until they heard a knock at the door, and Jubal stood up from his seat on the couch.

“That's probably Jen, Ben and Charlie”

Jubal answered the door and let Jen and her family in, they all greeted each other with Jen introducing Ben and Charlie to Maggie… Ben and Tyler continued to build the Lego that Jubal had started with Tyler and Maggie continued to help Abby with her jigsaw while talking to Jen. Charlie and Jubal were on the couch talking and catching up as it had been a while since they had hung out together and both men got on really well, but Jubal kept finding himself watching Maggie, which of course was noticed by Jen.

“You know it’s so sweet my little brother can't go a few minutes without looking your way."

Maggie shook her head laughing as she smiled looking at Jubal “He’s really enjoying today, it’s so good to see him so relaxed and happy. He really deserves all of this.”

Jen smiled “You are the reason that he is so happy, the way you and your family has embraced the kids has meant so much to him”.

“He and the kids are part of my family, they are stuck with me for a very long time”

“Well that’s good to hear because I'd have to kick his ass for letting you go” Jen laughed softly.

The kids had asked to finish off the cookies they had made with Maggie and her family while watching a movie. Jen was sitting with Charlie at the breakfast bar having a glass of wine as Maggie stood with Jubal’s arms wrapped around her from behind, he kissed her cheek and neck before resting his chin on her shoulder.

“Merry Christmas baby”

Maggie had decided not to take any wine, and she was thankful as it meant she was able to turn her head a little to kiss Jubal as she pulled his arms tighter around him.m

“It’s been the perfect first Christmas together”


End file.
